Magere Brug

The Magere Brug (English: Skinny Bridge) is a bridge over the river Amstel in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It connects the banks of the river at Kerkstraat, between the Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht. A story told to tourists about the origins of the 1691 version of the bridge is that it was built by 2 sisters who lived on opposite sides of the Amstel river and wanted to be able to visit one another, every day. In one variant of the story, the sisters were not able to afford a bridge of adequate width or height, for general use, so a very narrow bridge was built, hence its name. In another variant, the sisters’ last name was ‘Mager’, hence the bridge’s name (rather than from its narrowness).