The Dance of Death
67 triangles of the skeleton leading all — the world's completest bridge cycle.
Wolf-Dieter — CC BY 2.5 · JoachimKohler-HB — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Andrew Bossi — CC BY-SA 2.5 · Andrew Bossi — CC BY-SA 2.5
The 'other' wooden bridge — and many leave preferring it: the Spreuer (1408) downstream where chaff was dumped — hence the name — tenfold less crowded than its famous sibling, and wholly original in its planks, untouched by fire. Its treasure is the 1635 Dance of Death cycle: sixty-seven triangular panels where Death's dancing skeleton leads all humanity — pope and emperor, merchant, bride and child — the European plague message that 'death evens everyone', kept here in the world's completest bridge version. At its middle a small 1568 chapel, and from its windows the working wooden Needle Dam of 1859, regulating the lake by hand-lifted planks — with the crossing delivering you to the quiet Mills quarter and the Musegg wall's ascent.
67 triangles of the skeleton leading all — the world's completest bridge cycle.
Fifteenth-century timber without disaster restoration — time itself under your hand.
The small 1568 chapel hung over the river.
Spreuerbrücke, 6003 Lucerne
Franciscan ChurchOn a quiet little square a few metres from the crush of the old town stands **on3 minutes walk4.8
The Jesuit ChurchSwitzerland's first great Baroque church: the Jesuits built it between 1666 and 4 minutes walk4.7
Musegg Wall & TowersAbove the old town runs Lucerne's medieval wall nearly whole — 870 metres of 1404 minutes walk4.5
Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrücke)Europe's oldest covered wooden bridge and very nearly its most photographed stru6 minutes walk4.6
Rosengart CollectionThe story of a father-daughter art-dealing pair who loved what they sold and kep6 minutes walk4.8Europe's art after its great plagues: Death as merry skeleton inviting every rank to his dance — no pope spared for holiness, no emperor for crown, no bride for beauty — an equality sermon painted for the crossing people. Wall cycles mostly perished; the bridge roof kept this one from the centuries' rain, completest of all.
The Kapell for emblem, tower and flowers — postcard Lucerne — the Spreuer for soul, authenticity and the panels' shiver. Seven lovely riverbank minutes separate them anyway: real short time crosses both as one loop and refuses to choose.
The 1859 manual system of wooden 'needles' set and drawn one by one to regulate the whole lake's level — still worked by arm in its seasons, Europe's last operating dam of its kind. Its view from the bridge beside the Death panels is a double lesson in the centuries' craft.