When the devil "was an architect"
Fresco of St. Wolfgang's Church: the devil and Bishop Wolfgang of Regensburg building a church together in the city of St. Wolfgang
For a long time and in different countries, people attributed the construction of the most complex or most beautiful architectural structures to the intervention of otherworldly forces. Moreover, in the popular imagination, for some reason, these masterpieces were created not by angels or cherubs, but by their irreconcilable opponents, who came straight from hell.
At present, the role of devils is played by aliens, who, according to the assurances of some "researchers", built almost all more or less significant structures of the Earth, for example, the Egyptian pyramids. They also outlined the Nazca plateau with geoglyphs. On this occasion, we can recall Martin Luther, who once said that you should not give the devil the most beautiful melodies. The same with good reason can be said about the most beautiful bridges and cathedrals. But they give - and without much regret.
Only in one case does the legend speak of the construction of the cathedral by the Archangel Michael, who allegedly argued with the devil about which of them would be able to create a more beautiful temple. And what do you think? The Cathedral of the Archangel turned out to be so beautiful that it was immediately transferred to heaven, and none of the mortals had time to see it. We now have to take Michael at his word. But the famous French abbey of Saint-Michel, the construction of which the legend ascribes to the devil, remained on earth.
Abbey of Mont Saint Michel
It is built on a rock that can only be reached at low tide.
But everyone, perhaps, was surpassed by the Polish Russophobe Adam Mickiewicz, who declared the whole city, and not just St. Petersburg, to be the creation of the devil:
"Rome was made by human hand,
Venice was created by the gods;
But everyone would agree with me
That Petersburg was built by Satan.
Venice was created by the gods;
But everyone would agree with me
That Petersburg was built by Satan.
By the way, some literary critics believe that Pushkin's poem "The Bronze Horseman" was written as an answer to Mickiewicz, who hated Peter I.
Soul catchers
But why should the devil build bridges and cathedrals?
It turns out that he did this in the hope of profiting from the human soul. And not necessarily an architect - he agreed to any, even some drunkard and bastard, who is guaranteed to go to hell anyway: whoever enters the cathedral first or crosses the bridge will be in the clutches of the unclean.
Ideas about the desire of the devil to sign contracts with people for the sale of souls appeared in the XNUMXth century. One could understand the devil's interest in the soul of some great ascetic, but it was taken as an axiom that for any soul both "princes of hell" and ordinary devils are ready to pay even with gold, even with bridges, even with cathedrals.
The first story about a deal with the devil is contained in the apocryphal "Life of St. Theophilus (Theophilus) of Adana or Cilicia" (he is also known by the nicknames Penitent and Economy). The day of his memory in the Catholic Church is celebrated on February 4, in the Orthodox - on June 23. Believe it or not, the future saint sold his soul to the devil just for the post of Bishop of Adana. True, then he repented and with fervent prayers addressed to the Virgin Mary, begged for forgiveness.
This Theophilus, apparently, was a real person, the date of his death is called 538. In the XNUMXth century, a certain Eutychian told the world about his fall into sin and miraculous salvation, who wrote the story "On the repentance of Theophilus, the church steward in the city of Adana." Eutychian claimed that he personally knew Theophilus and was a witness to all these events. In the XNUMXth century, this story was translated into Latin and became a European bestseller.
Icon from the first half of the XNUMXth century illustrating this legend
And in the XNUMXth century, a Russian translation appeared, in which Theophilus, addressing the Virgin Mary in prayer, calls her "Seeking the Lost." As a result, in the XNUMXth century, a new type of icon appeared in Russia with the image of the Mother of God "Searching for the Lost". Here is one of them, which you can see in the Assumption Joseph-Volotsky Monastery:
In the future, not only scientists (like Agrippa of Nestheim) and the Templars, but even prominent theologians (for example, Albrecht the Great - the teacher of Thomas Aquinas) and popes were accused of concluding an agreement with the devil. Pontiff Sylvester II (a contemporary of Vladimir Svyatoslavich) allegedly had in his service not only the devil, who took the form of a black dog, but also his own succubus named Meridian.
There were also rumors that Sylvester II was a descendant of the biblical Simon Magus, who tried to buy from the apostles John, Peter and Philip the gift of miracles and "power over the Holy Spirit." Readers of M. Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita" Sylvester II is known under a secular name - as "the magician and warlock Herbert of Aurillac (Avrilaksky)", whose unknown manuscripts came to Moscow to study messire Woland.
Portrait of Pope Sylvester II on a French stamp
And Pope Boniface VIII at the Louvre meeting in 1303 was officially accused in connection with Satan by none other than the French king Philip IV (Beautiful) - the personal enemy of this pontiff.
Boniface VIII frescoed by Giotto (Lateran Basilica)
“The time has come for cathedral cathedrals”
Later, in a number of European countries, numerous legends appeared about how cunning customers deceived the devil, who built some kind of outstanding structure in terms of its architectural parameters. Usually he was promised the soul of the first creature that crossed the bridge or entered the cathedral - and they slipped him a rooster, then a dog, then a goat or some other animal.
In the end, the devil was tired of this, and therefore, when the future saint Wolfgang of Regensburg, who became the patron of sculptors, carpenters and shepherds (a contemporary of the Pope Sylvester II mentioned above, his years of life - 924-994), decided to conclude an agreement with him, he decided play it safe. In exchange for a new church, the devil demanded the soul of the first creature to cross the threshold of this temple - and immediately erected a temple around Wolfgang.
Thus, the future saint had to either stay forever in the temple, or step over the threshold and go to the underworld. However, at the prayer of Wolfgang, a wolf entered the church (by the way, translated into Russian, the name Wolfgang means “a step like a wolf”). The church described in this legend still stands in the Austrian town of St. Wolfgang. True, it was rebuilt in the late Gothic style.
Saint Wolfgang on a German postage stamp:
However, a thousand years later, Satan took revenge on Wolfgang and in Bavaria, whose patron saint is this saint, on March 22, 1933, the Dachau concentration camp was opened, about 3 priests became its prisoners.
Sometimes the devil changed the terms of the deal. For example, during the construction of the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Munich, he agreed to give the missing amount of money on the condition that the temple would be without windows - so that it would always be dark in it. The architect designed the windows so that they were covered with white columns and were not visible. However, the light penetrated the church, and the annoyed devil, stamping his foot, left a mark on the floor, which is still shown to parishioners and tourists.
Cathedral of Our Lady, Munich:
"Trace of the Devil":
And the devil took part in the creation of the Church of St. Mary in Lübeck because he was assured that a huge tavern was being built. Seeing that he was deceived, the unclean one wanted to destroy the temple, but the townspeople promised him to build a real drinking establishment nearby - and they fulfilled this promise. Since 1999, the figure of this devil can be seen next to the cathedral:
During the construction of the Notre Dame Cathedral, the devil only helped in the manufacture of the gate: the local blacksmith Biskorn allegedly turned to him for help. The gates turned out to be very beautiful, only the locks on them turned out to be impossible to open. Sprinkling with holy water helped.
Notre Dame, view from above
North Dame gate
The devil is also suspected of participating in the construction of many other cathedrals, for example, Aachen, Cologne, Chartres.
By the way, look at the truly grandiose Indian temple Kailash in Ellora, carved into a huge rock:
The inscription on a copper plate found in one of the caches reads:
“Oh, how could I do something like this without magic?!”
The Hindus did not want to attribute the construction of this temple to either Shiva or Vishnu, or the Asuras, or the Rakshasas.
"Bridges of the Devil"
More bridges were built by the devil than cathedrals. In every self-respecting European country they can show "Devil's Bridge", and in some places - several. The most famous, of course, was in Switzerland, which in 1799 was stormed by the army of A. V. Suvorov. It was built over a gorge cut by the Reuss River in 1595, and was destroyed by an earthquake in 1888. The roar of an invisible waterfall gave it an additional infernality.
A modern view of the Devil's Canyon. Foundation of the Devil's Bridge - bottom right
The bridge in the Italian city of Borgo a Mozzano was built not by the devil, but by people who entered into a standard contract with the devil that constantly collapses the bridge: the unclean one leaves the next newly built bridge alone in exchange for the soul of the first creature that crosses it. As is usually the case in such cases, the dog was led across the bridge first. At the same time, the official name of this building is Ponte della Maddalena (“Mary Magdalene Bridge”). He received it from the statue of this saint, which once stood on one of the banks.
Borgo a Mozzano Bridge
The bridge of the devil on the island of Torcello in Venice has no railings or parapets, since, according to legend, the devil always destroys them.
Devil's Bridge in Torcello
The legend says that at the time when this city belonged to Austria, patriotic relatives of a noble Venetian girl killed her lover, an Austrian officer. To resurrect him, this girl made an agreement with the devil on this bridge, promising seven unbaptized children in return. But the intermediary witch, who was supposed to transfer the children to Satan, burned down during the fire. And the devil is still waiting for payment and on the night of every Christmas Eve appears on this bridge in the form of a black cat.
And this is the Sicilian Ponte dei Saraceni, a bridge that was allegedly built by the devil so that the Saracens could cross the river separating their possessions from the lands of the Christians.
Bridge of the Saracens
The bridge over the Ticino River in Pavia was called "damn" because of its unusual design - its spans are covered. The legend claims that by creating this bridge, the devil decided to surpass himself.
Ponte sul Ticino
"Devil's bridges" can be seen in Spain. Here is one of them - a fragment of a Roman aqueduct near Tarragona. According to legend, this time they promised the devil the soul of the first creature who drank the water that came through this aqueduct to Tarragona - such was an innocent donkey.
Aqueduct de les Ferreres
Now look at the Portuguese Mizarela Bridge, spanning the Rio Rabagau:
The legend claims that the devil built it at the request of a criminal fleeing the chase - in exchange for his soul, of course. This bridge was invisible to everyone until the local priest ordered to sprinkle it with holy water.
These three bridges over the river Mainach can be seen in Wales (County of Ceredigion).
The first of them was built at the end of the 1734th - beginning of the 1753th century (it was first mentioned as Devil's Bridge in 1901), the second - in XNUMX, the third, the last - in XNUMX.
In Southern Bulgaria (in the Rhodopes), the "devil's bridge" across the Arda River was built in the XNUMXth century on the site of a Roman one:
According to legend, it contains the shadow of the builder's wife, which seems to some at night in the moonlight.
The Valentre bridge in Cahors (Cahors) is also called “devil's”, this is one of the most photographed sights of France:
This "devil" appeared on the central tower of the Valentre bridge only in the 80s. XX century, until then somehow managed without it:
In addition to this bridge and the famous wine, Cahors was famous for the Saint-Michel College, where two future marshals of the Bonaparte empire, Bessières and Murat, studied.
The Rakotzbrücke Bridge in the Saxon Kromlau rhododendron park (near the border with Poland) was called “damn” not for “extremism”, but for “inhuman” beauty. In addition, it also forms a perfect circle with its reflection in the water.
Rakotzbrücke Bridge, Kromlau park, Saksoniia
For help in creating this bridge, the devil traditionally received the “soul” of a dog (if, of course, this animal had one). Legends are told about people who disappeared without a trace in the Kromlau park, but there is no documentary evidence of these “horror stories”.
By the way, look at the Tongji Bridge, which can be seen in the center of the Chinese city of Yuyao (Zhejiang Province). It was built in 1729–1732:
It is also very beautiful, and the reflection in the water forms a perfect circle, and this bridge also has not one, but three spans. However, the Chinese did not bother to come up with a legend about the construction of Tongji by some kind of demon.
But the most modern Devil's Bridge is located in Russia:
This is a semicircular viaduct built in 1986 over the Itykit River - on the Severomuysky bypass of the Baikal-Amur Mainline. Its height reaches 35 meters. The bridge got its unofficial name from train drivers - because it sways when heavy trains pass.
But there are damn bridges that can frankly disappoint. These include the bridge in the Estonian city of Tartu:
It was opened in 1913, when the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty was celebrated and received the official name "Alexander I Bridge". It was called devilish only because it had a dark color - in contrast to the white Angel's Bridge.
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