The Kapellbrücke, Lucerne

I may be a little bit too into this bridge, but what a bridge it is. The Kapellbrücke is a covered wooden footbridge across the river Reuss which dates back to the 1300s. It's the oldest covered bridge surviving in Europe and the oldest truss bridge in the world (I'm going to pretend I know what that means and move on). What makes it particularly special, however, is the 17th century paintings which grace the inside of the bridge, depicting events from Lucerne's history and that of its patron saints. The sad part is that the bridge was set on fire in 1993, thanks I believe to a particularly crappy smoker. You can see a short video of the bridge on fire and in the immediate aftermath here.

The bridge was subsequently restored, but two thirds of the original paintings were lost. Only 47 survived out of the original 158 (down to 147 by the time of the fire), and only 30 have been fully restored. It's sad to see something like this destroyed, but it still stands as a unique feature of Lucerne today.

The fire-damaged portion of the bridge remains as a memorial

According to Wikipedia, this depicts a "local slaying"

I presume this is from one of the saint's lives, since the decapitated head on the ground appears to have a halo on it. Not sure if the demon is carrying the slayer away or egging him on

"But Gwan," I hear you cry, "there are two famous bridges in Lucerne!" Never fear, gentle readers, I will tell you all about the even more awesome Spreuerbrücke in our next exciting installment.