Spreuer Bridge
Spreuer Bridge is one of the narrated stops on the self-guided Lucerne audio walking tour in Gingerguide. Plan about ~20 min here. Press play at the spot for its two to three minute story, or ask the AI guide anything about it.
- Type bridge
- Suggested visit ~20 min
- Lucerne Lucerne guide
About Spreuer Bridge
Lucerne's quieter covered bridge, where millers once dumped their chaff and a painted Dance of Death still leads pope and pauper alike across the rushing river.
The Spreuer Bridge is the second of Lucerne's surviving covered wooden footbridges, crossing the Reuss downstream of the Chapel Bridge, beside the old mills of the Mühlenplatz and the town's needle weir. Its name comes from Spreu, meaning chaff: this was the only bridge from which millers were permitted to tip chaff and leaves into the river, since it lay furthest downstream. The span reaching the left bank was completed around 1408, replacing an earlier bridge that a flood destroyed in 1566.
Under its roof runs a celebrated Dance of Death, a cycle of triangular painted panels by Kaspar Meglinger and his workshop from the early seventeenth century. In each scene, Death confronts a figure of a particular rank, framed by explanatory verses and the painted coats of arms of the donors, a Counter-Reformation reminder that no station in life outranks mortality. Of some sixty-seven original panels, roughly forty-five survive today.
Did you know? The bridge is named after chaff. Millers were allowed to dump their leftover husks into the Reuss only here, because it stood furthest downstream, floating the waste conveniently out of the city.
How long should you spend at Spreuer Bridge?
Plan about ~20 min at Spreuer Bridge. That is enough to take it in and hear its narrated story; stay longer if it grabs you. The tour is self-guided, so there is no rush.
Is Spreuer Bridge worth visiting?
Spreuer Bridge is one of the 15 sights the Gingerguide team researched and narrated in Lucerne, so it earns a place on a self-guided walk. Its story explains why it matters, and you can ask the AI guide anything the story leaves open.
Nearby stops in Lucerne
Sources and further reading
Where to check the facts about Spreuer Bridge and read more:
Day 1 of the Lucerne in 2 days itinerary →
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Hear the story of Spreuer Bridge
Preview the Lucerne tour free in the Gingerguide app.