The stone bridge of Regensburg is the oldest crossing on the Danube, and the second permanent crossing on the Danube, besides Emperor Trajan's old bridge at Turnu Severin. Its eventful history of nearly nine centuries is full of legends, the most famous of which is the rivalry between the builders of the bridge and the cathedral, which is usually linked to the statue of Bruckmandl on the bridge. This legend probably originated later, the meaning of the statue, like many other figurative representations of the bridge, having been lost centuries ago. Indeed, the statue we see today does not even resemble the version that was damaged earlier.
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| The oldest illustration of the Bruckmandl (Georg Hufnagel, 1594. source) |
It's quite a coincidence that the statue, known by its many names (Brücken-Männlein, Bruckmandl, Brückenmännchen), still stands on the bridge, defying the centuries. Other similar decorative elements have long since disappeared, collapsed, worn away, dismantled, but the young man with curly hair, sitting on the saddle roof and dressed in a swimming gown, has been restored each time and is still the most photographed work of art by tourists in Regensburg.
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| The renovated statue on the stone bridge in Regensburg. |
One can only guess who, when and why decided to build this statue. What is certain is that it was placed in its present location after the stone bridge was completed. Regensburg was already an important river crossing before the foundation of the Roman fort Castra Regina in 179 AD, despite the fact that it is a relatively wide stretch of river, dotted with gravel banks and islands. At times, a pontoon bridge could have provided a temporary crossing between the province of Raetia and the Germanic territories, and later between the northern and southern Germanic territories. We have already discussed the changes in the riverbed of the Danube at Regensburg, where we have already described the different conditions prevailing in the riverbed at the time the bridge was built. Presumably, after considerable preparations, such as the accumulation of wood and stone building materials, money and royal approval, work on the riverbed could have begun in the year of our Lord 1135, in an extremely dry, droughty summer, marked by extreme low-water on the Danube, with the foundation of the stone piers.
It took 11 years to build the bridge, opening to the public in 1146, and was hailed as one of the architectural wonders of Europe even at the time of its completion. It is no coincidence that the legend of its construction includes the devil, since it was not at all a natural phenomenon to walk across such a large river, even in the upper, German section, with dry feet in the Middle Ages. The stone bridge was built of sandstone, originally with sixteen piers covering 1/3 of the entire cross-section of the riverbed, which still has a relatively serious backwater effect on the Danube. In the meantime, the bridge has been slightly shortened, with a northern and a southern pier built into the bank. Over the centuries, the piers have been continuously widened by piles and stone deposits, mainly to protect against icy floods. Over time, these piers grew so large that various workshops were built on them, harnessing the energy of the Danube swollen by the bridge piers.
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| The long gone old towers of the stone bridge (Matthäus Merian) |
The decorations and superstructures of the Regensburg stone bridge underlined the political, strategic and economic importance of the structure, as it was much more than a river crossing. Not only did the stone bridge represent the power and wealth of the imperial city to passing merchants, ambassadors and armies, but its construction further enhanced the city's power and wealth by focusing north-south transit traffic to Regensburg. The most striking of the structures were undoubtedly the gate towers. These restricted and controlled the flow of traffic through the city. There were originally three of them, one in the north at Stadtamhof, one at Regensburg (still standing) and one in the middle of the river, on the administrative border between the two towns, roughly where you could get down to the island of Oberer Wöhrd, which belonged to Regensburg. It was this tower that was the first to be destroyed when the city was hit by severe flooding in 1784. The Black Tower of Stadtamhof was damaged during the Napoleonic Wars, when there was heavy fighting on the bridge, and had to be demolished in 1809.
But medieval travellers would find it difficult to recognise the bridge as we know it today. Over its nearly nine centuries of history, the bridge has gradually lost its decorative elements, its towers and statues, like a Christmas tree that is slowly taken down after the Epiphany. The difference is that the "Christmas tree" in Regensburg has got back a decoration, the Brückmännchen. Some of the ornaments on the bridge are well known, some have been saved in the city museum, while others have been lost forever.
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| The third Bruckmandl on a postcard (wikipedia) |
There was a basilisk relief on the bridge, on the 10th pillar from the south, on the downstream side, which kept away evil spirits. By this is not meant demons specifically, but e.g. floods and ice and similar harms that threatened the existence of the bridge (=the wealth of the city). Next to it, on the 9th pillar, a weasel was depicted, which, interestingly enough, was able to keep the basilisk in check. This relief, however, had worn off by 1835. Opposite the present statue of the Bruckmandl there was a relief of two fighting roosters, which had a biblical meaning of light and vigilance, but also a secular meaning, perhaps more representative of everyday life in Regensburg: the political struggle between the imperial city of Regensburg and the Duchy of Bavaria, which was separated by the bridge. A statue of a lion, which had lost its head by 1821, stood above the 10th bridge deck from the south. The rest disappeared around 1916/1917. There was also a reclining lion relief on the bridge above pier 11, probably the coat of arms of Emperor Conrad Hohenstaufen. This section of the bridge was blown up by German troops in April 1945, but fortunately it was recovered from the river by divers in 1952 and is now in the city museum. The bridge also featured the coat of arms of the town, the two crossed keys.
Compared to these ornamental elements, the Bruckmandl is a particularly new monument, having spent less than 170 years of its nearly nine-century history in its current location, at the highest point of the bridge, built into its western parapet. The figure himself sits astride the saddle of a superstructure on a massive column, his hands raised to his eyes, looking south towards the cathedral as if to shield his eyes from the scorching sun. This statue was erected on its present site on 23 April 1854, designed by the architect Michael Maurerer, the figure sitting on the roof is the work of the sculptor Anton Blank and has little or nothing to do with the earlier Bruckmandl, to which urban legends are linked.
The city museum has a sandstone sculpture torso with missing arms and legs and a head perched precariously on its neck. It depicts a young man dressed in a loincloth that could pass for a bathing suit. His head is covered with shoulder-length curls, and there are teeth in his half-open mouth. His upper body is turned to the left as he sits on a saddle roof, while a ribbon on the roof is engraved with the Gothic inscription []chuk wie heiß. The front of the inscription is worn away, and the initial letter is presumably an "S".
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| Workshops attached to the bridge's piers, the Bruckmandl sits behind the second from the left (source) |
The Bruckmandl originally sat on top of the gateway to a hydro-powered grinding mill near the 3rd pier on the east side of the bridge (see initial image) until 1791. By then the plank workshop was gone, and the tower in the middle of the bridge had already been knocked down by the flood of 1784. In 1791, a toll house was built on the site of the tower, which fortunately also had a saddle roof, so the statue was given a new roof to continue looking out over. In 1809 he lost his hands and legs in the Napoleonic wars. Local historiography is typically silent on the fact that most of the damage in Regensburg was probably caused by Bavarian troops allied with Napoleon as they tried to drive the Austrians out of the city. The statue, which must have become unstable during the battle, was knocked onto the bridge by a spring storm in 1817, when the head of the statue broke off. Temporarily repaired, the statue was re-installed on the roof of the tollhouse for a few years, where it continued to withstand the elements until 1826, when the tollhouse was demolished. The Bruckmandl's torso was first taken to the antiquities collection in the cloisters of the cathedral, from there to the Historical Society's collection at the Ulrich Church and then to the city museum. In 1849, on local initiative, a completely new statue was erected in a completely new location, at the highest point of the stone bridge.
The earliest pictorial representation of the Bruckmandl dates from 1594, Georg Hufnagel's sketch for copper engreving depicts the city of Regensburg from the hills above the Stadtamhof, with a separate enlarged image of the Bruckmandl in the lower left corner. There is a stone gateway with a saddle roof on top. As the structure was part of the eastern parapet of the bridge, the bridgehead faces south, which is the same as the torso in the museum. The inscription 'Schiuck wie hais' is inscribed on the ribbon next to its right leg. However, it is quite certain that this sculpture is not original. This is confirmed by the inscription on the gate: RENOVIERT ANNO 1579, above which is the coat of arms of Regensburg and a date of 1446, presumably the date of construction of the gate, which may have been damaged together with the statue in the fire of 1555.
Several theories have tried to explain the meaning of Bruckmandl. Some simply saw it as an advertisement for a nearby bath. Such a baths existed in Regensburg, but it is unlikely that the bridge's owner would have allowed such an advertisement to be erected, at least no similar analogy is known. A somewhat more reasonable astronomical theory is that the statue is a direction indicator, an 'angel of the south', showing travellers the direction of south with its dress, its gaze and its hands covering the eyes. This may have been necessary because the stone bridge did not exactly follow the north-south axis, with the northern part of the bridge deviating eastwards and the southern part westwards from the imaginary line. The third theory is relatively modern, and it is about the rivalry between the master mason of the dome and the master builder of the bridge. It is no wonder that the bridge builder won the competition: the construction of the St Peter's Cathedral in Regensburg has begun 127 years after the bridge was opened and was not completed until 1872, when the two towers were also completed in Gothic style.
Along with the statue, the mysterious inscription has captured the imagination of many people. Some thought that it might refer to the heat and drought that ravaged the area when the bridge was built, but there was also an urban Jewish legend that it was the first words of a mute child thrown into the Danube instead of a fire. A note from a nearby monastery, however, has led to the discovery of a complete version of the text, but it has not been of much help to researchers:
Schuh wie haiß / zu Regensburg seyn dy Heuter feist
The text presumably captures a joke of the time, but its meaning has been lost in the past. At the time of its construction it was understood by everyone, but over time the meaning has faded, but it is similar to the Hungarian saying 'A dead frog croaks on the wet shore of a dry lake': 'It is so hot that I'm freezing, the horses in Regensburg are so skinny that they are binging'.
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| The third version of the Bruckmandl has been restored in 2012-2018 for the last time (source) |
There must have been a logical connection between the sculpture and the text, leading many to believe that the saddle roof could represent the skinny horses of Regensburg, although it is likely that in this case there is a much more complex story behind the story.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
Literature:
- Karl Bauer: Regensburg. Kunst-Kultur- und Alltagsgeschichte. Buchverlag 2014. 6. kiadás
- https://www.regensburg.de/kultur/kulturdatenbank/eintrag/118949
- https://www.regensburger-tagebuch.de/2013/01/das-regensburger-bruckmandl-teil-2.html
- https://www.regensburger-tagebuch.de/2013/01/das-regensburger-bruckmandl.html#more
- https://www.bernd-nebel.de/bruecken/index.html?/bruecken/3_bedeutend/regensburg/regensburg.html
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