Kapellbrücke

47.0511111111118.3072222222222438Koordinaten: 47 ° 3 ' 4 " N, 8 ° 18' 26" E; CH1903: 665998/211485

Lucerne Seebucht

The Chapel Bridge is the landmark of the city of Lucerne in Switzerland and one of its most important tourist attractions.

General

The Chapel is the oldest and 202.90 meters ( 204.70 meters including canopies ), the second longest wooden covered bridge in Europe, after the wooden bridge Bad Säckingen - Stein AG ( 203.70 meters, including canopies 206.50 meters). It was built around 1365 as a rampart walk and connects the separated by the Reuss Old and New Towns ( 'less city "). Originally, the bridge was longer; by the replenishment of the bank, an approximately 75 -meter length of around 1835 has been canceled. In the gable of the bridge are 111 triangular paintings depicting important scenes of Swiss history.

The pictures of the Chapel Bridge, the Mill Bridge and the Hof Bridge is unique in its use. In no other European city covered wooden bridges were decorated with triangular images.

Water Tower

Near the left bank is the octagonal water tower, which was built around 1300, ie before the Chapel Bridge, and from it a short traverse is reached. The tower served alternately as a watchtower and a cornerstone of the city's fortifications, as the city archives and treasury, as well as a prison and torture chamber. Today it houses a souvenir shop and the club house of the artillery association Lucerne.

Fire

The bridge fell into the night of August 18, 1993 a fire victim, which was triggered by suspicions by a discarded cigarette. The fire destroyed a large part of the bridge ( visible using the lighter wood in the middle of the bridge ), including 78 of the 111 famous images. After the fire in 1993, the remains of 47 images were retrieved on the bridge. 30 pictures could be restored to 1998. The bridge was immediately rebuilt, inaugurated on 14 April 1994 and opened to pedestrian traffic again.

The in shortening the bridge in 1835 outsourced 25 gable paintings that show the history of St. Maurice as the patron saint of Switzerland, have been suspended as a substitute for the irredeemably burned exhibits in the central part of the bridge. At the two outer seams between the initially received and the reconstructed bridge part remind black charred remains of the original images to the fire.

The cycle of paintings

The cycle of paintings originally included 158 illustrations. 147 images were obtained to 1993, of which 110 still images were by the shortening of the bridge in the 19th century there shown. The wood panels are or were at the base between 150 up to 181 cm wide and 85 to 95 cm high. Each panel consisted of three to five pinewood boards. Only a few were made of linden and maple.

The cycle of paintings was created during the Counter-Reformation, in which the city leaders in a Reformed environment advocated loyalty to the Catholic Church. The panels are propaganda in this sense. The representations of the canton of Lucerne and Swiss history should remember when passing the bridge on the way into town because quite a pious way of life - this included the service in the military and happiness go together in life. Good " Swiss " at that time was that the city and Republic of Lucerne could borrow Sold in contracts to France, Spain and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. It started on the left bank of the Reuss next to the Jesuit church with the image of the giants of Reiden and ended with the presentation of the Jesuit College, now the Knight 's Palace. This powerful work, mythical giant was considered the origin of the strong and powerful Lucerne.

The concept for the series huge panel paintings which could be read as " comic" well, came - on behalf of the Council by the city clerk Renward Cysat. Each member of the Council (in the narrower and the Grand Council ) was a table for himself and his wife " sponsor " ( fund was originally called pins ). The " advertising display " back then was the coat of arms of the donors at the bottom left (as seen by the observer ) or on the opposite side of the women's coat of arms. Verses that are on the frame of each image, explain and complement the image representation. It was thus protected against " misinterpretation ". Apart from the Lucerne of history it was on the way back to the life and death of Saint Leger, the Lucerne city's patron, and the legends of the Swiss patron saint, Saint Maurice.

The weggegangene from Zurich and naturalized here Catholic painter Hans Heinrich Wägmann and his four co-operating with him in the workshop of his sons were the lucrative large order. Wägmann, a representative of late Renaissance, first made ​​a sketch of the proposed image on paper. Some designs are still preserved. (* From him and Cysat comes also the oldest known map of the canton of Lucerne, 1613 )

To protect the images are dependent on the Chapel during carnival time with carnival pictures. These have been designed by various carnival organizations or Guggenmusigen and be re- suspended each year.

Of the 146 images, copies were made, also destroyed by the 86 in the fire. It is kindled a controversy over whether only the unburned originals or the copies should be attached to the rebuilt bridge.