Already in the mid-19th century there was a bridge connecting the two banks of the Rhein near to the Kölner Dom. This bridge was jokingly known to the inhabitants of the city as the Muusfall - the Mousetrap. At the beginning of the 20th century, it had to give way to the Hohenzollernbrücke, a half-timbered arch bridge which was designed to carry the railway. Although the was destroyed in 1945 during the last few days of the Second World War, it was later rebuilt and improved.