Decapitation bridge
Coordinates: 51 ° 3 ′ 23 " N , 3 ° 43 ′ 12" E
| Decapitation bridge | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Official name | Enthoofdingsbrug or Hoofdbrug | |
| place | Ghent | |
| construction | Stone bridge | |
| Number of openings | 1 | |
| location | ||
|
||
The Beheading Bridge ( Onthoofdingsbrug or Hoofdbrug ) is a bridge and former place of execution in Ghent .
history
Since 1371 murderers and rapists have been beheaded on the medieval stone bridge that spans the Leie and connects the Sint-Veerleplein with the Burgstraat. The last execution was carried out in 1585. Until 1799 the bridge was adorned with two statues referring to a legend about the decapitation bridge:
In 1371 a father and his son were sentenced to death after they rebelled against Count Lodewijk of Flanders . He wanted to carry out a cruel experiment. In order to find out whether the love of parents for their children is greater or that of the children for their parents, he confronted the condemned with a difficult decision: whoever would behead the other should stay alive himself. The father then told the son that he should execute him in order to save his own life, which was worth more than the father's because of his youth. The son actually raised his sword at his father on the bridge, but the moment he was about to strike the weapon broke. Thereupon the count pardoned both the father and the son.
As can be seen on a contemporary copper engraving , the two statues show the moment when the son, standing behind the kneeling father, who is obviously handcuffed, raises the sword. An explanatory inscription was added to the statues: “Ae Gandte le en Fant fraepe sae pere se Tacte desuu / Maies se Heppe rompe, si Grace de Dieu. MCCCLXXI. ”They were removed at the end of the 18th century and apparently have not been preserved.
Albrecht Dürer , who visited Ghent in April 1521, saw the two statues during his visit, but noted the legend in his travel diary only inaccurately: “I also saw on the bridge where people are beheaded, the two images of honor that are erected as a reminder that a son has beheaded his father. "
literature
- Gerd undeterred, I saw many delicious things. Albrecht Dürer's trip to the Netherlands , Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-525-47010-7 , pp. 160–163
Web links
- Photo story and song about the bridge saga. Text and music by Patrick and Fernand Bernauw, vocals: Amaryllis Temmerman
Individual evidence
- ↑ Quoted from Friedrich Leitschuh (ed.), Albrecht Dürer's diary of the trip to the Netherlands. First complete edition based on the manuscript of Johann Hauer , Leipzig 1884, p. 178 .
- ↑ quoted from Gerd Unverfetern, I saw many delicious things there. Albrecht Dürer's trip to the Netherlands , Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-525-47010-7 , p. 160