Across the Limmat

The Münsterbrücke crosses the Limmat in the heart of Zürich’s old city, linking the area around the Fraumünster with the Grossmünster on the opposite bank. The present stone bridge was built between 1836 and 1838, replacing an older wooden crossing that had occupied this part of the river for centuries. Its low stone arches give it a remarkably understated profile — less a monument dominating Zürich than something that seems built directly into it.

Standing beside the bridge is the equestrian statue of Hans Waldmann, one of Zürich’s more complicated historical figures: celebrated military commander, later mayor of the city, and ultimately executed in 1489 after a political uprising against him. The bronze monument arrived much later, in 1937, and gives the otherwise graceful river crossing a considerably heavier piece of Zürich history.

In these views, though, the bridge belongs as much to the river and surrounding architecture as to its history. The repeating stone arches, old buildings, iron railings and movement along the waterfront make the Münsterbrücke feel less like a single landmark and more like part of the structure of old Zürich itself.