A bishop builds the future – The bridge as a benefit for everyone
Around the year 1225, Prince-Bishop Heinrich II of Thun dared to do the previously unimaginable: to build a bridge over the raging Rhine. However, he lacked the funds to do so and needed a loan. He therefore pawned Basel Minster’s treasure to Jewish moneylenders and secured additional funding from monasteries. Based on the surviving documents, Basel historiographers almost unanimously agree that construction began ‘around 1225’. It is unclear whether the bridge was planned, under construction or almost completed at that point in time, but it is conceivable that the inauguration took place in 1226. This was evidently assumed 120 years ago, when the bridge was given its current form, as large numbers indicating the years ‘1226/1905’ were carved in stone at the Kleinbasel bridgehead. One thing is certain: The so-called ‘Bishop’s Bridge’ remained Basel’s only crossing over the Rhine for more than 600 years and significantly accelerated the city’s rise to become a centre of trade and commerce.
Bildquelle: Rudolf Rey, 32. Basler Neujahrsblatt (1854)