World Tour 24 hr

     Teufelsbrücke Schollenen Gorge is located opposite the picturesque Reuss valley in the canton of Uri in Switzerland. According to legend, it is very difficult to build a bridge here.


     The Schöllenen Gorge is an important access route and the shortest transit to the St. Gotthard Pass, but it was generally not used until the early 13th century because it involved crossing the turbulent Reuss river, swollen with snowmelt during the early summer. The first bridge across the river was built in 1230. It was a wooden bridge and needed frequent maintenance.


     In the 16th century, the wooden bridge was replaced by a stone arch bridge. The road was essentially a mule track that only allowed for the transportation of goods by mule, up to the beginning of the 19th century. In 1799, this bridge witnessed one of the most dramatic battles of Suvorov's Italian and Swiss expedition which took place during the Napoleonic Wars. During this battle the bridge was heavily damaged by the retreating French army. The bridge gave away in a storm in 1888.


     A new bridge was built in 1820 and it took 10 years to complete, demonstrating the difficulty of the task. By the middle of the 20th century, the second bridge was no longer able to handle the volume of traffic it received, and a concrete bridge, featuring two lanes was built in 1958 to accommodate heavier flow. The second devil's bridge still exists today but is not used.


     In 1994, the Swiss government issued a commemorative coin for the Teufelsbrücke. The obverse features a stylized scene of the devil holding the devil's stone - the Teufelsstein - approaching the bridge to smash it. The 220 ton rock, allegedly picked up by the devil, is still there, though it had to be moved by 127 meters in order to make room for the new Gotthard road tunnel.