The Bridge of Statues was the first bridge in
Luebeck that was built of stone. However, when the bridge was built in 1643, it
was first made of wood. After several defects became visible, modifications were
constantly made using wood. In 1773, the bridge was renovated by the master builder
Johann Adam Soherr, this time by using sandstone only. The sculptor Dietrich
Jürgen Boy added twelve different statues within two years which the
bridge is named after. These statues are symbols for themes, attributes and divinity.
The god mercury stands for freedom, the river god Neptune for peace, the god Ares
for unity, cleverness, diligence and frugality. The most popular figure is Mercury;
this figure is naked and shows off his bottom to the west, as he turns his back to
Denmark. Once Emmanuel Geibel wrote a poem about one of the statues which is briefly
translated in the following lines:
“To Luebeck on the bridge there stands the God Mercury.
He shows in every single part an Olympic figure.
He did not know about shirts in his godlike peace;
for that reason he turns his bottom to every foreigner.”
The displayed statues on the Bridge nowadays are not the originals. In order to protect
the statues of pollution and acid rain the original figures were brought to the
St.-Ann-Museum in Luebeck. In 1907 another modification of the bridge was necessary to
enable the growing traffic flow. The bridge was enlarged to two lanes and the statues
were positioned in the same way they were before.