The Red Bridge, the span that joined the city to Europe

Some bridges are just infrastructure; others are a political decision you can walk across. The Red Bridge is the second kind. When it was planned, Luxembourg was the provisional seat of the European Coal and Steel Community and wanted to become its permanent home. For that it needed space, and the space was on the Kirchberg plateau, across a valley 74 metres deep. The bridge was the answer.

For a sense of the moment, one detail says it all. Between 1952 and 1958 the ECSC Court of Justice sat in the Villa Vauban, a late 19th-century house that is now an art museum. To make a case for being the permanent seat, the government decided to develop the Kirchberg plateau and connect it to the centre, and the bridge came out of that decision.

A competition, two years of building and twelve tanks

The government launched an international competition in 1957. Work began in June 1963 and was finished two years later. Before it opened to traffic, it was put through overload tests with twelve tanks weighing 42 tonnes each, a detail from the government’s portal that I think is the bridge’s best story. It opened in 1966 and bears the name of Grand Duchess Charlotte, who inaugurated it herself. Her bronze statue has stood since 1990 in Place de Clairefontaine, beside the cathedral.

To everyone it’s the Rout Bréck, the Red Bridge, after its colour. The tourist office supplies the figures. It’s 355 metres long and 25 wide, rises 74 metres above the Alzette valley and the Pfaffenthal district, and weighs more than 4,900 tonnes. The government portal describes it as the largest bridge in the capital.

The tram and the latest overhaul

Between 2015 and 2018 the bridge had a thorough overhaul to take the tram. The cantilevers were widened, the railings replaced, the deck strengthened and the whole thing repainted to keep the colour that gives it its name. On the night of 21 May 2018 a tram crossed it for the first time on its way to the Glacis. Today the T1 line runs over it between the centre and Kirchberg, with the Rout Bréck-Pafendall stop at the Kirchberg end. If you’ve flown in from the UK and taken the tram from Findel into town, you’ve already crossed it, since the T1 runs from the airport through Kirchberg and over the bridge towards the Étoile and Hamilius. Next time, sit on the valley side and keep your eyes on the window for the whole crossing.

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Is it worth walking across?

For me, yes. On the tram you’re over in seconds and barely look. On foot you have Pfaffenthal’s rooftops, the Vauban towers and the river beneath you, with the upper town on its rock beyond. It’s one of the best free views in the capital, and it leaves you in Kirchberg by Mudam, the Philharmonie and Fort Thüngen. If you want a photo, I’d go late in the afternoon, with low sun on the upper town’s cliff, and wait for a tram to cross for the full picture.

The other angle I’d recommend is from below. From the valley floor the bridge becomes a red stroke across the sky above the houses. The best way to get there is to ride down on the Pfaffenthal lift, whose glass cabin keeps the bridge in view as you descend.

How it fits with the funicular

At the foot of the bridge, down in the valley, sits Pfaffenthal-Kirchberg railway station, and from there the funicular climbs to the tram stop at the end of the bridge. It’s an interchange designed so that rail passengers don’t have to go through the centre. For a round trip with a difference, go up to Kirchberg by funicular and walk back to the centre over the bridge.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Luxembourg before prices climb.

One bridge among many

The capital has plenty of other bridges with a story, from the stone arches of the Adolphe Bridge and the Passerelle over the Pétrusse to the railway viaducts across the Alzette and the little bridges of the Grund. I gather them all in bridges in Luxembourg City. The red one is the most modern of the big historic crossings and, to my mind, the one that best explains why Luxembourg City is one of the EU’s three capitals today.

If you would rather have a local show you round, book a guided tour in Red Bridge and choose by the reviews.

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