The Butchers' Bridge () 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 ''Leybach'', 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 ...

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

, the capital of

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

. It connects the Ljubljana Central Market 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 Slovenian 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 a ...

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

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 and folklore, paradise is a place of everlasting happiness, delight, and bliss. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical, eschatological, or both, often contrasted with the miseries of human ...

, after having been induced by the Serpent to taste from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (they are walking towards Ljubljana Cathedral) *

Satyr In Greek mythology, a satyr (, ), also known as a silenus or ''silenos'' ( ), and sileni (plural), is a male List of nature deities, nature spirit with ears and a tail resembling those of a horse, as well as a permanent, exaggerated erection. ...

, startled by the Serpent *

Prometheus In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning "forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titans, Titan. He is best known for defying the Olympian gods by taking theft of fire, fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technol ...

, running and disemboweled, in punishment for having given knowledge (of fire) to mankind There are also some smaller grotesque 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 Ljubljana Central Market. However, due to the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, 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 (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

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 Lock (security device), locks with a shackle that may be passed through an opening (such as a chain, chain link, or hasp staple) to prevent wikt:use, use, theft, vandalism or harm. Naming and etymology The term '':wikt: ...

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 Pont, meaning "bridge" in French, may refer to: Places France * Pont, Côte-d'Or, in the Côte-d'Or ''département'' * Pont-Bellanger, in the Calvados ''département'' * Pont-d'Ouilly, in the Calvados ''département'' * Pont-Farcy, in the Ca ...

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 21st-century architecture in Slovenia