It was only in the 13th century that both banks of the Limmat were connected by a bridge up as high as the Governor’s Castle. Today’s covered wooden bridge has had at least five predecessors, all of which were destroyed over the centuries.

Laufenburg architect Blasius Balteschwiler was responsible for the design of the bridge that was built in 1809 and he won a competition as a result. Balteschwiler designed a beam structure that spanned the 37-metre-wide river without piers. The framework is paneled with shingle-covered boards that give the bridge the appearance of being a closed, corporeal basket arch. The original shingled saddleback roof was tiled in 1939. The shingles have all had to be renewed on several occasions and in 1968 the wooden roadway, which often had to be renewed, was replaced by a metal base and the entire construction frame chemically preserved.