50. Devil’s Bridge, Switzerland - 18 Sept 1900 | Glass Plates
Our final glass plate on this European grand tour, glass plate 50, captures the view from Devil’s Bridge looking up at Schöllenen Gorge. Carving its way through the rock, the torrent of water disappears beneath the bridge.
Without Devil’s Bridge for crossing, the path through Gotthards Pass would be near inaccessible. As the name suggests, if the tales are true, then it is the Devil that should be thanked for the work, although he did have his price…
A Deal With the Devil
Painting of The Devil’s Bridge by J.M.W. Turner (circa 1803)
The challenges of traversing St. Gotthards Pass are as old as the mountains. Throughout the middle-ages, muleteers navigated around the rivers that cut through the landscape, cautiously traversed along the lips of deep gorges, and drove their mules up and down the exhaustingly steep mountainsides. Any reprieve or shortcut was to be welcomed, and the locals of Uri had long planned to bridge across the Schöllenen Gorge, but were lacking the engineering expertise.
It was a devilish task, and it was from the devil that they requested help. Helpful gentleman that he is, the Devil agreed so long as he could consume the soul of the first to cross the bridge. While the Devil hungrily completed the task, the people of Uri conspired to offer something other than the human soul he was expecting. When the bridge was finished and ready, one of the onlookers threw a piece of bread on the bridge, while another released a goat.
Enraged, but sticking to the deal, the Devil tore the goat to pieces.
Angry at being cheated, wishing for revenge, the Devil searched for a boulder to throw at the bridge and smash his handy-work to pieces. Once locating an enormous granite boulder, he was about to take hold of it when he saw an old woman marking the rock with the symbol of the cross. The Devil attempted to throw the boulder, but missed. It can still be found on the outskirts of nearby Göschenen.
Built around 1585, the bridge of the story was an older bridge than the one on which the glass plate was taken, which was built around 1830.
Whether or not the Swiss have continued to enter into contracts with the Devil for these newer bridges – the newest built in 1956 – has not been established. Still the name “Devil’s Bridge” remains.
Journey’s End?
This concludes my brief blog examinations of the three boxes of glass plates. Collectively these photos chart a journey through western Europe from the 11th to the 18th of September 1900; stretching from the lowlands of Belgium to the Swiss Alps, there are a week’s worth of photos, including the missing box of thirteen glass plates.
The glass plates project – currently titled “Pyro-Soda Road: Remapping a 1900 European Travelogue on Glass” – is far from over though. These examinations have only been the start of the journey Aleksandar and I hope to take this project on. At present, Aleksandar is restoring the photos, cleaning up the scratches on the images and digitally making them look at their best.
Meanwhile, planning is going ahead for an excursion to the continent to retake the photos on the exact spots (or close to) where the originals were taken. These will provide a satisfying historical comparison that will display how these sights have changed in the century and more since the glass plates were originally taken. Alongside this photographic comparison, we intend to create a documentary/travelogue of our trip to bring these images and the history they capture to a larger audience.
After the glass plates are restored, and the modern locations photographed, we hope to open a photographic exhibition of all this work to give people a chance to see the photographs displayed publicly in a creative manner.
Lastly, it should be noted that with this European tour was another two boxes of miscellaneous glass plates. These are full of more domestic scenes in England, and I plan on doing similar posts on these at a later date for you on this website.
I will update you again once there is progress on this project.
Thank you for joining me thus far.
Goodbye for now.
References
‘Devil’s Bridge’, Andermatt Website <https://www.andermatt.ch/en/attractions/devils-bridge-906fdef383>
1900 Glass Plates: This project explores a series of glass plates from the year 1900 with the eventual goal of travelling the same route as the photographer. It will be a varied journey that will stretch from simple blog posts examining each photo to videos and more. This project is in collaboration with photographer Aleksandar Nenad Zecevic, who’ll be restoring the photographs to bring out details dimmed by time. More to follow.
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