Love padlocks at Butchers' Bridge (Ljubljana)

The Butchers' Bridge ( sl, Mesarski most) is a

footbridge A footbridge (also a pedestrian bridge, pedestrian overpass, or pedestrian overcrossing) is a bridge designed solely for pedestrians.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While the primary meaning for a bridge is a structure which links "two points at a ...

crossing the river

Ljubljanica The Ljubljanica (), known in the Middle Ages as the ''Sava'', is a river in the southern part of the Ljubljana Basin in Slovenia. The capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, lies on the river. The Ljubljanica rises south of the town of Vrhnika and flow ...

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the are ...

, the capital of

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. It connects the

Ljubljana Central Market The Ljubljana Central Market ( sl, Osrednja ljubljanska tržnica) is a market in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The riverside market building, sometimes referred to as Plečnik's Market ( sl, Plečnikova tržnica), was designed by Jože Plečnik between 193 ...

and the Petkovšek Embankment (). The bridge was solemnly opened on 10 July 2010. The original idea for a bridge on the site was expressed in the 1930s by the architect

Jože Plečnik Jože Plečnik () (23 January 1872 – 7 January 1957) was a Slovene architect who had a major impact on the modern architecture of Vienna, Prague and of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, most notably by designing the iconic Triple Bridge an ...

. The modern bridge, which is far more simple than the original plan, features a staircase at its left entry, a glass walking belts at the sides, and two fences with steel wires and wide top shelves. It was designed by

Jurij Kobe Jurij is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Jurij Alschitz (born 1947), theatre director, theatre and acting theorist who has lived in Berlin since 1992 * Jurij Brězan (1916–2006), Sorbian writer * Jurij Cherednikov (born 1964) ...

from the Atelier Arhitekti studio. It is decorated with works by the sculptor

Jakov Brdar Jakov Brdar (born 22 April 1949) is a Slovene sculptor of Bosnian descent. He is the author of many public statues and sculptures in Ljubljana. In 1998, he received the Prešeren Fund Award for the sculpture group ''Pridiga ptičem'' (Sermon t ...

Sculptures

The largest sculptures on the bridge represent figures from Ancient Greek and Christian/Jewish mythology: *

Adam and Eve Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...

, shamed and banished from

Paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in parad ...

, after having been induced by the

Serpent Serpent or The Serpent may refer to: * Snake, a carnivorous reptile of the suborder Serpentes Mythology and religion * Sea serpent, a monstrous ocean creature * Serpent (symbolism), the snake in religious rites and mythological contexts * Serp ...

to taste from the

Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil In Judaism and Christianity, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ( he, עֵץ הַדַּעַת טוֹב וָרָע, ʿêṣ had-daʿaṯ ṭōḇ wā-rāʿ, label=Tiberian Hebrew, ) is one of two specific trees in the story of the Garden ...

(they are walking towards

Ljubljana Cathedral Ljubljana Cathedral ( sl, ljubljanska stolnica), officially named Saint Nicholas's Church (, unofficially also ), also named Saint Nicholas's Cathedral ( sl, stolnica sv. Nikolaja), the Cathedral of Saint Nicholas, or simply the Cathedral (), is a ...

) *

Satyr In Greek mythology, a satyr ( grc-gre, σάτυρος, sátyros, ), also known as a silenus or ''silenos'' ( grc-gre, σειληνός ), is a male nature spirit with ears and a tail resembling those of a horse, as well as a permanent, exa ...

, startled by the

Prometheus In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning " forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titan god of fire. Prometheus is best known for defying the gods by stealing fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technology, kn ...

, running and disemboweled, in punishment for having given knowledge (of fire) to mankind There are also some smaller

grotesque Since at least the 18th century (in French and German as well as English), grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, mysterious, magnificent, fantastic, hideous, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or disgusting, and thus ...

sculptures of frogs and shellfish on the top of the bridge's fence.

History

The construction of a bridge with the same name, Butchers' Bridge, was planned already in the late 1930s by the architect

. According to his plans, the bridge was to be covered, and was a part of the

. However, due to the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the bridge was never built. For more than fifty years, an empty spot in the middle of the Ljubljana Central Market marked the place where the bridge was meant to be built. In the 1990s, the first proposals of building the bridge and thus completing Plečnik's project of the Ljubljana Market were advanced. Some proposed that the bridge should be built according to original plans, while others suggested that a modern bridge should be built. In 2009, the city administration under the mayor Zoran Janković launched the construction of the current bridge, which cost 2.9 million

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

s and was completed the following year. The unveiling took place on 10 July 2010. Although a bridge was envisaged on the site already in the 1930s by the architect

, who arranged his Water Axis along the Ljubljanica, Plečnik's bridge would be far more monumental and the current bridge is rather an antithesis than a completion of his plans. With its length of and the width of , it functions as a square on water and is in this regard similar to Plečnik's bridges. Shortly after the opening of the bridge

padlock Padlocks are portable locks with a shackle that may be passed through an opening (such as a chain link, or hasp staple) to prevent use, theft, vandalism or harm. Naming and etymology The term '' padlock'' is from the late fifteenth century. ...

s of couples in love started appearing on its steel wires, symbolizing declarations of eternal love, a phenomenon similar to the one on the Parisian

Pont des Arts The Pont des Arts or Passerelle des Arts is a pedestrian bridge in Paris which crosses the River Seine. It links the Institut de France and the central square (''cour carrée'') of the Palais du Louvre, (which had been termed the "Palais des Ar ...

References

{{coord, 46, 3, 6.34, N, 14, 30, 31.54, E, type:landmark_region:SI, display=title Bridges in Ljubljana Pedestrian bridges in Slovenia Bridges completed in 2010 Jože Plečnik buildings Bridges over the Ljubljanica Center District, Ljubljana Cultural depictions of Adam and Eve