The Devil's Bridge of Kromlau
A stone bridge in a German park makes a perfect circle with its reflection, and legend says only the Devil could have built it.
What was reported
The Rakotzbrücke, in a park at Kromlau in Saxony, is a slender stone arch built between 1863 and 1882 over a small lake. When the water is still, the arch and its reflection form a perfect circle. Basalt columns at its ends look like natural rock.
Like many dramatic bridges in Europe, it's known as a 'Devil's Bridge': legend says such bridges were too daring for human hands, so the Devil built them in return for the soul of the first to cross.
Explanations offered
It was built for a local landowner, Friedrich Hermann Rötschke, as a decorative folly. Walking on it is no longer allowed, to protect it. Devil's bridge legends appear across Europe, a way of explaining remarkable stonework.
- When
- Built 1863–1882
- Where
- Kromlau, Saxony, Germany
- Witnesses
- Visitors
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.