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Magere Brug
Magere Brug was build after a typical Dutch architecture plan and provided with wooden structure. The bridge was thought as a balanced one, double-swiped, so that traffic on
the river would not suffer changes.
Nowadays, however, the name of the bridge is no longer justified, as the bridge was
rebuild into a wider one in 1871. Widening Magere Brug had become a necessity even
back in the 19th century, as traffic on the river and commerce had made it one of the
most accessed ways to the other side of the Amstel.
There are many legends about Magere Brug or, at least, somehow referring to it. One
of them speaks about the way the bridge got its name. the legend tells that the Mager sisters, living each on one different side of the Amstel river, needed a way to visit each
other with the least difficulty possible. This is how Magere Brug is said to have appeared borrowing its name from the two legendary sisters.
Other tales claim that Magere Brug is called this way due to its initial narrow architecture. Skinny (mager in Dutch) was used as a metaphor of the real difficulty of two persons to
walk next to each other on the bridge before its rebuild in 19th century.
Magere Brug is a kind of a protector of lovers, because once dark falls, the thousand
of lights of the bridge gather lovers and sweet whispers. The atmosphere is unique and emanates poetry. |
