Schönausteg

About the building

Between the Marzili open-air pool and the Eichholz, the Schönausteg crosses the Aare just above the water, only about two metres high. It links the Lindenau area on the left bank with the lower Kirchenfeld near the Dählhölzli; its span is about 55 metres. In summer, swimmers jump from the bridge into the river. Bicycles and motor vehicles are not allowed on it.

Before the bridge, a ferry crossed here; Wikipedia gives 1868 as the start of the Dählhölzli ferry, the building inventory around 1880. In 1904 an 'initiative committee for the Lindenau footbridge' campaigned for a bridge, and the city's building department held a competition. Robert Maillart submitted an advanced design, a three-hinged concrete arch with a box cross-section. For reasons of appearance, the building inventory says, the technically conservative project of a chain bridge by engineer Emil Henzi and the firm Theodor Bell & Cie. of Kriens was chosen instead. It was built by F. Heller-Bürgi & Sohn of Bern together with Bell, and opened on 2 October 1906.

The iron footbridge hangs from chains and is stiffened by truss girders. The chains are anchored between the bridge portals and the dressed-stone parapets on the abutments. The portals are shaped in Art Nouveau style: flat arches whose ends swing out to the sides like ears. The building inventory calls the bridge an original, well-designed late example of the chain bridge.

In the winter of 2024/25 the bridge was renovated. It was removed on 1 November 2024; parts of the structure were replaced, the corrosion protection and the timber deck were renewed, and the vibrations caused by joggers were to be reduced. During the work, a temporary footbridge about 250 metres downstream served as a replacement. The bridge was put back on 14 April 2025 and reopened on 23 April. Thanks to the new corrosion protection it is expected to last 80 years.

A detail about the name: the crossing was also once called the 'chain footbridge by the Knechteninseli', after the small island near the Dählhölzli that the ferry used to serve.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Schönausteg · Wikipedia (de): Schönausteg · Wikidata: Q2258722