The Alte Brücke is one of Heidelberg’s best-known symbols, repeated in paintings, photos, souvenir mugs and t-shirts and more, but the view from the bridge doesn’t always get as much attention as the view of the bridge.
The two familiar towers are almost always in the picture, but although I lived in Heidelberg in the late 1950s, I never knew until this trip that there were originally a pair on the other side as well, and that the towers are actually centuries older than the bridge.
The gate and the towers were part of the medieval town walls. The present bridge, built in the 1780s, is actually the ninth bridge on the spot, but the first one built in stone. The towers on the far side, were blown up in the 1680s by French troops, who also blew up much of the castle that sits on the hill above.
There are two statues on the bridge; the first represents the Elector Karl Theodor who ordered a stone bridge to replace the most recently-destroyed wooden bridge. He decided symmetry was needed, and ordered a statue of Minerva to balance the ensemble. Easter egg: take a close look at Minerva’s shield.
Like seemingly every other such monument, the Old Bridge has attracted clusters of ‘love locks.’
