Akköprü ( tr, ak köprü, "white bridge", ota, اق کوپری) is a historical bridge in

Yenimahalle Yenimahalle is a metropolitan district of Ankara Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey, a fast-growing urban residential district of the city of Ankara, Turkey's capital. According to 2010 census, population of the urban center is 648 ...

district of

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

, crosses the Ankara River in front of Varlık neighbourhood. It is the oldest bridge in Ankara and still in good condition. The neighbourhood around the bridge was also named 'Akköprü'. The area is home to the great ''Atatürk Cultural Centre'' and ''Ankamall'' shopping centre, the biggest mall in Ankara.

History

The bridge was constructed during the reign of the

Seljuk Seljuk or Saljuq (سلجوق) may refer to: * Seljuk Empire (1051–1153), a medieval empire in the Middle East and central Asia * Seljuk dynasty (c. 950–1307), the ruling dynasty of the Seljuk Empire and subsequent polities * Seljuk (warlord) (di ...

sultan Alaaddin Kayqubad I in the early 13th century. It was commissioned by Kızıl Bey, the Seljuk governor of Ankara, in 1222. The bridge was located on the old trade route to

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...

Structure

The main construction material used in the construction of the bridge is

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...

stone. The bridge has seven arches, four of them being bigger and the others smaller. The metallic parapets were attached subsequently. There are two inscriptions in the western side of the bridge, one of them being rubbed out.

References

External links

* Wowturkey.com
Images of Akköprü bridge
Seljuk bridges in Turkey Buildings and structures of the Sultanate of Rum Arch bridges in Turkey Yenimahalle, Ankara {{Turkey-bridge-struct-stub