This bridge in Erfurt trumps Venice and Florence

One with steel blue eyes, the other with a good-natured expression: In Martin Gobsch's workshop on the Erfurt Krämerbrücke, it's all about puppets and marionettes.

A carving knife lies on the table, and a sketch hangs on the easel. "The bridge is perfect for handicrafts," says the doll maker and native of Erfurt, who not only has his workshop on the bridge, but also lives there, like many other people from Kramerbrück: "Here we have a nice hodgepodge of people who go to are of the same wavelength".

Gobsch doesn't have much space. His workshop is 22 square meters small. But the door at Krämerbrücke 2 is open: he wants to get visitors excited about his old craft. He says: “Being able to live and work in the medieval houses has a tremendous appeal. Every crack is a piece of history!” After a short pause he adds: “The bridge is my life.”

All but four of the Krämerbrücken houses belong to the city of Erfurt. Shops are usually located below, apartments above: "The city decides who is allowed to move in with which trade or business and only asks seven euros rent per square meter," explains Kristin Luther, an employee of the Thuringian state capital and responsible for sales promotion .

Luther? Not at all... "Yes, yes," says Kristin Luther. "I am actually descended from Martin Luther in the 14th generation". Erfurt was Martin Luther's spiritual home: He studied at the university there, then spent two years as a monk in the Augustinian monastery, a promise because he almost got struck by lightning once. And in 1507 he was ordained a priest in Erfurt Cathedral. “Martin Luther certainly often walked across the Krämerbrücke,” suspects Kristin Luther.

The Krämerbrücke is without a doubt the most spectacular of Erfurt's 258 bridges: the magnificent piece from 1325 has been built on and inhabited to this day. The much more famous Ponte Vecchio in Florence and Ponte di Rialto in Venice offer only a few tourist shops and are comparatively short at 95 meters and 48 meters respectively.

The Krämerbrücke, on the other hand, is 120 meters long. It spans two arms of the Gera. It is considered the longest bridge in Europe that is continuously built on and inhabited by houses.

"The name Krämerbrücke first appeared at the beginning of the 16th century, when the houses on the bridge were increasingly being handed over to craftsmen," explains Kristin Luther. "Erfurt's central location in Europe allowed trade to flourish: horse-drawn carriages brought gold, salt and spices to the trading center on the bridge."

Busyness is also experienced by those who stroll along it today. You pass galleries, peek into pottery, wood carving or glass blowing workshops and find nice board and card games in the shop "Der kleine Krieger". The health food store has good wholemeal bread and local cheeses. And in front of the café "Mundlandung" is written in chalk on a slate: home-baked cakes. It smells damn seductively like coffee.

How many ice cream parlors in the world bear the Rialto name? Maybe more like hundreds. But you won't find a gelateria on the Rialto Bridge. At the “Eiskrämer” on the Krämerbrücke, on the other hand, people queue up for a bag of natural ice cream in summer.

At first glance, the pure pedestrian bridge is not necessarily recognizable as a bridge. Many passers-by do not even notice that they have already stepped on the bridge. The six arches of the Krämerbrücke are only a maximum of four meters high and appear almost inconspicuous due to the four-story half-timbered houses.

What's more: When walking on the bridge between the rows of houses, you don't see the river and you feel like you're walking in a narrow alley. This is different with the undoubtedly more elegant Rialto Bridge with its large arch and 7.50 meter headroom.

A bridge festival is being celebrated in Erfurt, at which a record-breaking giant bratwurst is the focal point. It was made by master butcher Karl-Heinz Siebert at the 1991 Krämerbrückenfest from 1100 kilograms of sausage meat: it was 1638 meters long, which he laid on the grill in 164 turns for roasting. Since 1975, the Old Town Festival has taken place every year on the third weekend in June in a medieval setting.

All year round, however, the Erfurt bridge merchant offers guided tours of the bridge in historical garb: "The most interesting secular building in our city was initially, probably around the 10th century, made of wood and - after several fires and a lightning strike - made of stone until 1325 ' he explains. "Originally there were 62 narrow houses on the six arches of the bridge, which have now been combined into 32."

The bridge merchant hands out hearty and sweet treats, tells witty farces about greedy shoemakers and pious barkers. Then he stops at house number 31. It dates from 1578 and is accessible from the basement to the first floor. The rooms are low, but the windows offer a view of the Gera.

Built-up bridges were widespread in European cities from the 13th to the 18th century, mostly to be found in large cities such as Paris or London, but also in Bad Kreuznach, where the overhanging bridge houses can still be seen on the Old Nahe Bridge. “Back then, building on the bridges often had hygienic reasons. On the one hand you had fresh water quickly, on the other hand the water disposed of the waste quickly,” explains the bridge merchant.

In addition, the bridges, located on important trade routes, were sought-after locations for shops and stores. Very few such busy bridges remain today - including the Pulteney Bridge in Bath, England, and a wooden variant, the Covered Bridge over the Ossam River in Lovech, Bulgaria.

What is unique about the Erfurt Krämerbrücke is the combination of shops and apartments. Maybe it's because you feel right at home when you visit.

Information: kraemerbruecke.de; erfurt-tourismus.de

Erfurt has just over 200,000 inhabitants. However, the “Thuringian Rome” does not need to shy away from international comparisons.

Source: WORLD

This article was first published in December 2021.