The original bridge crossing the Rhine at this point was appropriately known as the Cathedral Bridge.  It was demolished and replaced by a new bridge built between 1907 and 1911.  It was called the Hohenzollern Bridge in honour of the The House of Hohenzollern, a noble family that formed a dynasty of kings and emperors of Prussia, Germany and Romania.  This new bridge carried both rail and road traffic across the river.  The bridge continued in service until 1945 when German army engineers blew it up to deny it to the advancing Allied armies.

After the war the bridge was first repaired and then replaced with the bridge we see today.  It carries the railway into the nearby Hauptbahnhof and also has a pedestrian walkway.  The bridge was widened between 1985 and 1988 allowing it to carry six railway tracks across the river.  Apparently about 1200 trains pass over the bridge daily.




The old Hohenzollern Bridge had grand neo-Roman portals on either end.  These were demolished in the 1950s.  Today statues guard the entrance to the bridge.  This one on the cathedral end is of Emperor Wilhelm II.