Mattensteg (bridge)

We are crossing the Sihl using a foot and cycle bridge built between 1877 and 1880 to connect the Sihlquai, where we have come from, to the area now in front of us, the Platzspitz. It was here on the Platzspitz that the first Swiss national exhibition was held in 1883. Numerous structures were put up for this event, and this bridge was one of them. The Mattensteg, as the bridge is called, is a good 50 meters long and constructed of riveted steel trusses. The original deck was made of thick wooden planks. These were replaced by a concrete slab in 1940.
If you look upstream, you’ll see something unusual about the Sihl. The river bed runs under Zurich’s central station. Strictly speaking, the Sihl actually flows through the building complex, since there are rail tracks both above and below the water.