Rapperswil – Hurden wooden bridge

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Coordinates: 47 ° 13 ′ 14 "  N , 8 ° 48 ′ 43"  E ; CH1903:  704,010  /  two hundred and thirty thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight

Rapperswil – Hurden wooden bridge
Rapperswil – Hurden wooden bridge
Reconstruction of the historical wooden bridge from 2001, with Hurden in the foreground, Rapperswil in the background
Official name Rapperswil – Hurden wooden bridge
Crossing of Lake Zurich
place Rapperswil SG , Hurden
construction Yoke bridge
overall length 1425 m
width 4 m
start of building 1358

(Previous buildings: from 1525 BC and 2nd century AD)

completion 1360
closure 1878
location
Rapperswil – Hurden wooden bridge (Canton of St. Gallen)
Rapperswil – Hurden wooden bridge
Above sea level 406  m above sea level M.

The Rapperswil – Hurden wooden bridge is used to describe the prehistoric lake crossings in the area of ​​the Seedamm as well as historical bridge structures, such as the wooden bridge built between 1358 and 1360 by order of Rudolf IV (Rudolf the Spiritual) of Habsburg- Austria and new buildings that were usable until 1878. These established a pedestrian and car connection between Rapperswil and Hurden in the area of ​​the upper Lake Zurich .

Prehistoric pile remains and piles of ashlar stones date the first lake crossing between the Neolithic settlements of Rapperswil-Jona-Technikum and Freienbach-Hurden-Rosshorn, used for several centuries, to around 1525 BC. Chr .; a Roman wooden bridge dated to the late second century has been archaeologically proven.

The lake crossings between Rapperswil and Hurden were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List on June 27, 2011 as part of the lakeside settlements in the Alpine region as “ ... early evidence of transport routes ... ” . In the Swiss inventory of cultural assets of national importance , the lake dam and the prehistoric and medieval bridges are listed as class A objects.

Early connection of the two shores of the lake

Bronze age

As part of archaeological explorations, the diving team of the city of Zurich's underwater archeology recorded several pile lines and strips not far from today's lake dam. In all likelihood, these are prehistoric footbridges and bridges that ensured a cross connection between the banks. Some of the posts date to the Early Bronze Age around 1525 BC. And are likely to be closely related to that around 1650 BC. Chr. Dated island village before the Rapperswil University of Technology . The prehistoric pile remains and heaps of ashlar stones suggest a bridge connection between the settlements near Hurden and Rapperswil, which is one of the oldest known in the world.

The earliest finds date dendrochronologically around the year 1525 BC. The most recent from prehistoric times go into the 12th century BC. The oldest jetties were in the shallow water, presumably at the level of the water level and consisted of oak stakes with rows of stakes about 2.1 to 2.4 meters apart, which are likely to have fixed the boards or tree trunks on them. Around five centuries later, the bridge connection consisted of a "pile strip around five meters wide" , mainly made of oak, fir and ash piles , which had a load-bearing function. These were still based on the original lines and are likely to have been expanded over the centuries and decaying trunks have been continuously replaced. It is assumed that the bridge had a cultic significance for the residents of the region, as a strikingly large number of offerings were found in the vicinity of the construction, namely robe needles , dagger blades and ax blades made of bronze that were valuable for this period .

Late antiquity and early Middle Ages

How long this presumably first early connection between the two shores of the lake lasted is not yet known; however, half a dozen different prehistoric and early historical routes are documented by scientific dives. From the more recent epochs - Iron Age , Roman settlement and early Middle Ages - only a few records have been found so far.

A bridge connection in Roman times can be scientifically proven and dated: On the occasion of the archaeological investigations in autumn 2004, the remains of mighty piles made of silver fir and oak were discovered between the modern bridge piers . The planks like silver fir date according C14-analyzes in the late antiquity - the oak were 165 AD, at the beginning of the reign of Kaiser.. Marcus Aurelius Antonius Augustus , like. How long this Roman bridge construction survived has so far not been archaeologically proven, but longer-term use cannot be ruled out, as ferry connections between the two shores of the lake are only documented to a large extent from the 9th century.

As part of the three-year project "investigation and analysis of prehistoric and early historical paths and bridges over Lake Zurich / Obersee between the peninsula Hurden-Roßhorn (SZ) and the Rapperswil banks (SG)" of the Swiss National Science Foundation will continue to explore the earliest bridge connections.

Further connections on the Upper Lake Zurich

From the Roman settlement Centum Prata ( Kempraten ) led to the turning point in a boat connection to the Gallo-Roman island sanctuary on the Ufenau . The early Christian Martins Church is also secured, some of which remained a parish church for some of the parishes and farms on the left bank of the lake until the 17th century and whose services resulted in a busy ferry service. A ferry service between Rapperswil and Hurden has been documented from the 9th century until 1358, when forty people drowned after a storm during a pilgrimage crossing in September 1345 or 1350 and the ferry service between Hurden and Rapperswil lost its importance with the construction of the wooden bridge. Another bridge connection was formed around 1430 by a wooden footbridge, of which the remains of piles are still visible today, the "Kilchweg in die Uffnow" from Hurden to Ufenau.

Construction of a wooden bridge under Rudolf IV of Habsburg Austria

The oldest representation of the wooden bridge on Duke Rudolf IV. City seal from 1361
Combat operations during the Old Zurich War in the area around Rapperswil and the wooden bridge, Gerold Edlibach , around 1485/86
One of the earliest colored representations of the wooden bridge in Codex Vindobonensis from 1550
The rule of Rapperswil on the Murer plan from 1566
Rapperswil and wooden bridge, siege from 1656 , with the oldest known depiction of Heilig Hüsli
Fishermen and their hurdles ( fish traps ), view from Obersee near Hurden to the wooden bridge, the town of Rapperswil in the background, on an engraving by J. Barbier, around 1780
Rapperswil City Archives : Map from 1804 showing the route before the historic pier was demolished.
Siegfried Atlas from 1882: After the railway bridge was built, the only relic of the historical bridge is the Heilig-Hüsli on the small archipelago in front of Rapperswil.

In 1358 Rudolf IV. (Rudolf the Spiritual) of Habsburg Austria initiated the construction of a wooden bridge over the lake to Hurden: «He had just acquired Alt-Rapperswil, the March , the Wägital , Wollerau and Bäch for 1,100 silver marks . He now came up with the bold plan to connect the new areas with Rapperswil by a bridge. In this way the traffic could be increased, and he saw the farmers from the March come to the market in Rapperswil with their grain and the other fruits of the fields . The city just had to welcome that! It may be that Rudolf also thought of the pilgrims. So the builders went with their fins on the lake and looked for the little deep spots between Rapperswil and Hurden. The plan for the bridge was drawn up, and on July 24, 1358 the men drove the first oak piles into the lake bed ... It took two years to build, then traffic could be opened. At first, wagons were not allowed to drive over the jetty because it was too narrow for them; the bridge was only open to people and animals. How one marveled at Rudolf's work; it was a miracle at that time ». The “Zurich Yearbooks” mention that Duke Rudolf “had many masters who advised him, measured the water and helped build the bridge and that he was a pious, wise man ”.

Decisive for the planning and construction were probably military and economic reasons: the pier enabled a direct connection to the Austrian foreland , to the Habsburg possessions in eastern Switzerland, in southern Germany and to the Gotthard Pass , bypassing the federal city ​​of Zurich, which had been in place since May 1, 1351 . The Einsiedeln monastery archive explains further aspects in the abbots' professorship book, which led to the construction of the wooden bridge: “ ... The construction of the Rapperswil pier in 1358, which the Dukes Rudolf and Albrecht of Austria in association with the pilgrimage to Einsiedeln, was of greater importance Citizens of Rapperswil carried out. The Dukes of Austria, who had acquired Neu-Rapperswil in 1354 , came into the possession of Alt-Rapperswil (near Altendorf ) and the areas belonging to it in 1358 . That is why this connection was very important to them. In exchange for the driving rights that Einsiedeln and his people had to hurdles here across the lake and which had now become obsolete, Duke Albrecht exempted the house that the monastery in Rapperswil owned [the hermit's house ] from tax and guard duty and Einsiedeln and his people from the bridge toll. To the Austrian bailiff of Rapperswil, Johannes von Langenhart, who apparently made the greatest contribution to the construction of the bridge, the dukes had to take over the re-acquired bailiwick of the church and the like. on pledge ... »

Duke Rudolf transferred the construction costs of 1025  guilders to the Vogt of Rapperswil, Johann von Langenhart, and on October 27, 1365 pledged him the rights of use over Rapperswil, Kempraten, Jona , Mittelmarch, Altendorf, the Wägital and the Vogtei Einsiedeln . In 1368 Rapperswil received the bridge toll for the first time for a period of twelve years, and in 1415 permanently, for the maintenance of the public buildings that were associated with the increased traffic. The construction of the wooden bridge, which was completed around 1360, and maintenance of the successor structures were covered by road tolls until 1850 .

Late Middle Ages and Modern Times

The bridge layout of this new building, which was probably destroyed in 1415 or at the latest during the Old Zurich War , is not identical to the reconstruction from 2001, as Rudolf's master builder used the shallow areas in the Obersee and the bridge therefore did not have a straight course. Jacobus Basilius Brägger's Rapperswiler Chronik from 1817 reports a bridge length of 1850  steps or 4732 feet (1425 meters) and 188  yokes , each supported by three oak posts , for a total of 564 pillars. The distance between the individual yokes was a little more than seven meters. The twelve-  foot (four-meter) wide sidewalk was made of pine boards that were not tied down, but loosely laid. This was to prevent a storm from throwing the entire bridge into the lake - boards that were carried along by the wind were picked up again with boats.

The so-called Heilig Hüsli was built in its current form in 1551 as a stone building and forms the landmark of the eastern head section of the wooden bridge, which was newly built in 2001. Before that, there were wooden bridge chapels on this section of the Camino de Santiago . Together with the historically significant remnants of the old bridge, the small pilgrims' chapel is a listed building and is the property of the local community of Rapperswil-Jona.

Victims of the movement of goods and people

According to ancient legends, the first living creature to cross the bridge belonged to the devil, which is why in earlier times a billy goat was traditionally the first living creature to be allowed to cross the bridge when major structural changes were made or a new building was built (compare the legend about the Devil's Bridge ).

According to chronicler Xaver Rickenmann, between 1360 and 1878 at least 540 people died on their way over the wooden bridge after falling from the handrailless bridge into the lake and drowning. “ What horned and waving cattle fell into the water next to it is nowhere recorded. »How often storm damage affected the bridge is not known, but some diary entries (daily reports) by Father Josef Dietrich, governor of Einsiedeln monastery, report several times of major damage, for example on March 17, 1693 of a devastating storm that It lasted one and a half hours: " He covered most of the Rapperswiler Brugg, so that it will hardly be re-equipped in two days ... " Dietrich's daily reports make it clear that ferrymen continued to ensure traffic between the two shores, albeit less often: " 19th March the Laggey (servant) from Fischingen wanted to go ... over the Rapperswiler Brugg with the horse, but found the rhinestones of the Brugg so discarded that there was no way to get over it, so I ordered him a boat (requested) in which he and the horse have been safely led over from Hurden ... »A point of controversy between the city of Rapperswil and Einsiedeln Abbey is also mentioned in the governor's daily reports:« The Rapperswil authorities believed that they could oblige the abbey to produce wine from the Thurgau over the bridge to Hurden. Abbot Augustin Reding von Biberegg (1670–1692) showed them that their claim was not well founded, as the greater part of the lake at the bridge belongs to the monastery. This is why they have the right to pick up the wine in question by ship in Rapperswil and bring it to Pfäffikon ».

Times of war

In its eventful history, the wooden bridge was repeatedly dismantled, destroyed, completely or partially burned during mostly armed conflicts - and rebuilt again and again: in 1386 “ a Zurich patrol unit damaged the footbridge at night ”, in 1415 parts of the structure from Schwyz and Glarus burned down , which was not restored until 1420 was built.

During the Old Zurich War , the Rapperswilers, allied with Zurich, burned the strategically important connection, probably the part of the bridge between Pfäffikon and Hurden, on May 21, 1443. This was used by the Central Swiss for their forays into the Zurich hinterland (Landvogteien Grüningen and Greifensee ) and during the unsuccessful siege of Rapperswil (→ Battle of Freienbach ). In 1444, Schwyz troops set fire to what was probably the remaining part of the bridge. During the First Villmerger War, the Zurich General Hans Rudolf Werdmüller besieged the city ​​of Rapperswil, which was now under Catholic patronage, in the spring of 1656 : For five weeks, the bridge connection ensured supplies and military reinforcements for the unsuccessfully besieged city.

With the Peace of Aarau after the Toggenburg War on August 11, 1712 , the wooden bridge came under the control of the Reformed umbrella towns of Bern, Glarus and Zurich. After the invasion of the French revolutionary troops at the beginning of the Helvetic Republic , the French , who withdrew to the right bank of the lake in 1799, destroyed the bridge. Until it was rebuilt in 1804, a ferry again ensured the movement of goods and people. For strategic reasons , Schwyz troops destroyed the bridge connection over a short distance in 1847 in the Sonderbund War .

The last decades of the medieval wooden bridge

Since 1804, the wooden bridge has been «accessible by car under favorable circumstances. In any case, it is safer to go on foot, ”writes Gerold Meyer von Knonau . In 1816, engineer Hans Kaspar Stadler gave the pier a straight line. From 1839 a lift bridge was built at the " Heilig Hüsli " in order to cope with the tourist development after the arrival of the first steamship Minerva off the town of Rapperswil on July 29, 1835.

After the Sonderbund War of 1847, the bridge, which had been used intensively for 487 years, was last renewed. When the federal constitution of 1848 repealed the internal tariffs that were previously under the control of the cantons, the last bridge tariff had to be paid in 1850. The wooden bridge from Hurden to the former southern Rapperswiler Brückentor at the former fish market, right next to the "inner harbor", at today's transition from the fish market square at the southern end of the fish market square to Seedammstrasse , led to the commissioning of the stone sea dam and the railway line .

Construction of the sea dam

The medieval wooden bridge remained one of the most important local transport links from its construction in 1360 until it was demolished in 1878. At that time it was no longer able to cope with the increasing traffic of people and goods, for example carts could only drive at walking pace and if one of the axles broke, there was no further progress, the wooden bridge was too narrow for that: “ We're building a wide dam Stones! said clever men. The small council of the city of Rapperswil had previously commissioned chief engineer Hartmann to work out a plan for a better bridge. This plan was pulled out of the drawer again », and so between 1875 and 1878 the Rapperswil Seedamm was built .

New building from 2001

The hiking trail leading over the Seedamm, also popular as a local recreation area , should be rebuilt based on the historical route of the Schwabenweg over the old wooden bridge. In the early 1970s, the “Rapperswil-Jona Transport and Improvement Association” (VVRJ) and the “Association for the Protection of the Landscape at Lake Zurich” discussed this idea, but it was not until the spring of 2000 that the cantons responsible for construction in the Obersee area granted it St. Gallen and Schwyz received the necessary building permits. On April 6, 2001 the longest modern wooden bridge in Switzerland with 841 meters and a width of 2.4 meters was opened, the wooden footbridge Rapperswil – Hurden .

UNESCO World Heritage Site and Cultural Property of National Importance

The Seegubel site near Kempraten ( Centum Prata ) is dated to a middle phase of the corded ceramics from the transition phase from the Early to the Middle Bronze Age, in " ... the same period as the bridge structures over the lake ... " and a little later than the site at the technical center in Rapperswil. The settlement dates to the " ... same period as the early bridge constructions over the narrow lake between Rapperswil and Hurden-Rosshorn ... " and could " ... have had a control function for this important transport route ... " Together with the Rapperswil-Jona-Technikum and Freienbach sites - Hurden – Rosshorn , the prehistoric and historical lake crossings, " ... which provide early evidence of transport routes ... ", were added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites on June 27, 2011 as part of the lakeside settlements in the Alpine region .

In the Swiss inventory of cultural assets of national importance , the lake dam and the prehistoric and medieval bridges are listed as class A objects.

literature

  • Jolanda Blum: The Way of St. James through Switzerland . Ott special hiking guide, 7th edition. Verlag Ott, Thun 2007. ISBN 3-7225-0089-3 .
  • Arthur Krause: European long-distance hiking trail E1 . Compass hiking guide. Kompass-Kt.-GmbH, Innsbruck 2007. ISBN 978-3-85491-707-6 .
  • Michael Turzynski: On the E1 from Gothenburg via Flensburg to Genoa . Book on demand. BoD GmbH, Norderstedt 2007. ISBN 978-3-8334-9275-4 .
  • Cornel Doswald: Bridge building in a historical context . Road and traffic No. 6, 2006.
  • Beat Eberschweiler: Prehistoric and early historical traffic routes across Lake Zurich: First results from the diving archaeological investigations at the Seedamm . In: Announcements of the Historical Association of the Canton of Schwyz, Edition 96, Schwyz 2004.
  • Hans Rathgeb: Bridges across the lake . Edited by the working group for pedestrians-Holzsteg Rapperswil-Hurden, Rapperswil 2001. ISBN 3-9522511-1-9 .
  • Dieter Trachsler: Pilgrimage routes of Switzerland: Way of St. James; Schwabenweg: Konstanz - Einsiedeln, with special consideration of the Zurich Oberland . Ed. Zürcher Wanderwege (ZAW), 2nd edition, Wetzikon 2000.
  • Josef Hollenstein: Bumpy Bsetzi . Notes from a small town No. 8, series of publications by the Heimatmuseum, Rapperswil 1984.
  • Alfred Zweifel: From the old bridge to Rapperswil and the crossings over the Limmat in the area of ​​the city of Zurich . Contained in Zurich Monthly Chronicle No. 7, Zurich 1935.

Web links

Commons : Holzbrücke Rapperswil – Hurden  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Website palafittes.org: Swiss sites in the UNESCO World Heritage Site ( Memento of the original from May 31, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Rapperswil-Jona / Hombrechtikon-Feldbach (CH-SG-01), Rapperswil-Jona-Technikum (CH-SG-02), Freienbach-Hurden-Rosshorn (CH-SZ-01) together with the prehistoric and historical lake crossings on February 15, 2013  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.palafittes.org
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Website palafittes.org: Swiss sites in the UNESCO World Heritage Site ( Memento of the original from May 31, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed August 11, 2011  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.palafittes.org
  3. ↑ a b whc.unesco.org Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps : Rapperswil-Jona / Hombrechtikon-Feldbach (CH-SG-01), Rapperswil-Jona-Technikum (CH-SG-02), Freienbach-Hurden-Rosshorn (CH -SZ-01), accessed February 10, 2013
  4. ↑ a b A objects SG 2018 . Swiss inventory of cultural assets of national importance. In: babs.admin.ch / kulturgueterschutz.ch. Federal Office for Civil Protection FOCP - Department of Cultural Property Protection, January 1, 2018, accessed on August 20, 2011. (PDF; 87 kB, 15 pages, updated annually, no changes for 2018).
  5. ^ Website City of Zurich, Unterwasserarchäologie ( Memento of the original from August 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stadt-zuerich.ch
  6. ↑ NZZ (January 20/21, 2001): The bridge on the bottom of Lake Zurich
  7. ↑ Linth-Zeitung (April 7, 2004): The «pile dwelling fever» is approaching
  8. ↑ Website Unterwasserarchaeologie.de ( Memento of the original from February 16, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.unterwasserarchaeologie.de
  9. ↑ a b c d Geneviève Lüscher : On bridges and paths of the Bronze Age . Swiss National Science Foundation : Horizons, March 2005.
  10. ^ Website of the Laboratory for Dendrochronology of the City of Zurich
  11. ^ Rapperswil City Museum , Cantonal Archeology
  12. ↑ a b c Website Holzsteg Rapperswil , accessed on May 24, 2008
  13. ↑ a b c d website history of Hurden
  14. ^ Salomon Hirzel (* 1727, † 1818): statesman, historian, town clerk; Author of the “Zürcher Jahrbücher”; Founder of the Zurich Moral Society. From: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie .
  15. ↑ a b c d e Schwyzer Wanderwege website ( memento of the original from April 26, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Dr. phil. Joachim Salzgeber: The bridge - a royal work . In: Monthly magazine “Maria Einsiedeln” (July / August 2001).  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.schwyzer-wanderwege.ch
  16. ↑ Einsiedeln monastery archives, Book of Professorship Abbots, 25. Nikolaus I von Gutenburg.
  17. ^ Website of the local community Rapperswil-Jona
  18. ^ Website Rapperswil-Jona , Customs and History
  19. ↑ Josef Hollenstein: Bumpy Bsetzi - Notes from a small town . RA-Verlag, 1984.
  20. ↑ Website Kapuzinerkloster Rapperswil: History
  21. ^ Website City of Opfikon , Transport (ÖV)