Russein Covered Wooden Bridge

Beautiful old covered wooden bridge.

19th century covered wooden bridge.
On January 9, 1857, the small council decided to build a bridge over the Russein Gorge for the expansion of the Oberländerstrasse. The municipalities of Disentis and Sumvitg jointly supplied 450 logs for the construction and another 400 for the falsework. Fr. 18,900.00 had to be spent on the woodcutting work and transport, and Fr. 21,900.00 on erection. The bridge is an early example of Howe's girder system in Switzerland. The work, built with simple manual means, represented a tremendous achievement at the time.First repairs in 1916/17 improved the carrying capacity. When traffic was routed over the new concrete bridge in 1938, the neglected wooden structure was threatened with demolition. To save them, a girl from Ilanz collected money with other school children in the surrounding villages by reciting a poem "The old Russian wooden bridge" written by the pastor Giusep Durschei from Disentis. This idealism prompted prominent residents to found the association "Pro Punt Russein". With the support of the federal government and the canton, it was possible to collect the necessary funds to save the historical work. Original reinforcement with almost imperceptible steel and cable constructions, as well as renovation of all parts made it possible to extend the life of this magnificent crossing.

Beautiful old carpenter - art