The Cobblers' Bridge or the Shoemakers' Bridge ( or ) is a pedestrian bridge 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 two major areas of medieval Ljubljana. It is decorated by two kinds of pillars, the Corinthian pillars which delineate the shape of the bridge itself and the Ionic pillars as lamp-bearers. Built upon the plans 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 ...

, it was inscribed in August 2021 as part of Plečnik's legacy on the

UNESCO World Heritage List World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...

History

It is one of the oldest bridges crossing the river in Ljubljana and dates back to at least the 13th century. In the Middle Ages, it was known as the Upper Bridge (). It started as a wooden bridge with a butchers shop on it, but the stench from the meat was so strong that the

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

at the time paid to have them relocated. Shoemakers were the new occupiers of their booths, so the bridge gained its present name. The bridge has been reconstructed on numerous occasions throughout its long history due to floods or fires, and in 1867 a cast-iron bridge, named Hradecky Bridge after a former mayor of Ljubljana, was built and later relocated. The current stone bridge was designed in 1931 by the architect

. In 2010, a monument of Ivan Hribar, mayor of Ljubljana between 1895 and 1907, was unveiled next to the bridge. The current stone bridge was built in 1931.

References

Bridges in Ljubljana Pedestrian bridges in Slovenia Bridges completed in 1931 Stone bridges Jože Plečnik buildings Bridges over the Ljubljanica Center District, Ljubljana Art Nouveau architecture in Ljubljana Art Nouveau bridges 20th-century architecture in Slovenia {{Slovenia-bridge-struct-stub