Alte Brücke

This guide to the Alte Brucke in Frankfurt opens with a small gold rooster perched above the bridge and the legend, first written down by the Brothers Grimm, that a builder facing an impossible overnight deadline struck a bargain with the devil to raise the crossing. You'll hear how the builder tried to cheat the devil out of a human soul, what the devil did in return, and why the crucifix now marking that spot stands over what was once the river's most dangerous stretch. It traces the rooster and the bridge beneath it through centuries of floods, war, and repeated rebuilding.