What is that thing hanging under the arch? Yes, that's a whale bone and how it got there is a bit of a mystery. Understandable since we're over an hour from the nearest seaside.
Believed to be a rib, it's been suspended from an iron chain since at least the 1700s though locals believe it could be even longer - possibly as far back at the 15th century.
In the Middle Ages and Renaissance era, the walkway above the arch provided a safe passage for judges and magistrates between the city hall and their living quarters, so that they needn't associate with the common or "corrupt" people bellow. This may be the ironic origin of the myth of the whalebone's magic: It's claimed that it will fall on the first innocent or truthful person to walk under the archway.
Hint: It did not fall on me.
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