Gamle Bybro (Old Town Bridge), Trondheim (must see)

After the great fire of 1681, Johan Caspar von Cicignon, a renowned general and military engineer, built a bridge across the Nidelva river. It led from central Trondheim to the Bakklandet district and Kristiansten Fortress. A military access was necessary to the fortress at this point. The bridge functioned as a guarded city gate until 1816.

The Old Town Bridge was made with wood. The actual bridge today is a reconstruction by municipal engineer Carl Adolf Dahl in 1861. Dahl was the executive engineer of the city for public works in the latter half of the 19th century. Initially there was a sentry guardhouse at each end of the bridge.

King Christian V of Denmark financed the bridge construction himself. It was completed in 1685. Old Town Bridge took the place of the original Elgeseter Bridge nearby. After the Old Town Bridge opened, the Elgeseter Bridge was neglected and allowed to deteriorate and collapse.

One guard house was later demolished but the excise house on the west bank is still extant and in use as a day care center. The carved gates of the Old Town Bridge are the distinctive earmarks of Trondheim. Walk under the gates and take in the view of the fortress and the colorful houses of Bakklandet.

Old Town Bridge has been called the "Gate of Happiness". This is from the waltz lyrics of Norwegian composer Kristian Oskar Hoddo, "Nidelven quiet and beautiful you are." Hoddo wrote the lyrics while contemplating the river from the bridge in 1940. He later became a member of the anti-Nazi resistance. He was executed in Trondheim in 1943.