Laufen bridge, Arch bridge in Laufenburg, Switzerland and Germany

Laufen bridge is a two-span road bridge over the High Rhine, linking the old towns of Laufenburg (Baden) in Germany and Laufenburg in Aargau, Switzerland. Its two shallow parabolic arches, each about 8.7 m wide with a 41.5 m clear span, spring from a single 6.0 m pier standing in the river. The vault, pier and abutment walls are built of concrete-block masonry; a reinforced concrete slab replaced the rubble infill in 1982.

A bridge at this narrow point of the High Rhine is documented from 1207, when wooden piers carried the crossing; floods repeatedly damaged it. Stone piers were added in the mid-16th century, French troops dismantled it at the end of the Thirty Years' War, and it was destroyed again in 1776. In 1810 the carpenter Blasius Balteschwiler built a covered wooden bridge, replaced in 1911 by Robert Maillart's concrete structure during construction of the Laufenburg hydroelectric plant.

The bridge sits on the narrowest stretch of the High Rhine between Lake Constance and Basel, and a boundary stone from 1810 stands at its centre marking the German-Swiss border. A statue of Saint Nepomuk, patron saint of bridges, was placed on a bracket on the river pier in 1982. Since the new Rhine bridge opened, the old crossing has served as a venue for events in the old towns of both Laufenburgs.

Since the new Rhine bridge opened in December 2004, the 1911 bridge has been closed to motor vehicles, so it is crossed on foot or by bicycle. The 1810 boundary stone stands at the centre of the span, marking the German-Swiss border. The two old towns of Laufenburg sit directly at either end.

A stone marker from 1810 stands at the centre of the bridge and marks the border between Germany and Switzerland. A statue of Saint Nepomuk, removed when the bridge was rebuilt in 1911, was later placed back on a bracket on the river pier.