Bundesarchiv Bild 137-041150, Türkei, Bagdadbahn

The Varda Viaduct ( tr, Varda Köprüsü), aka Giaour Dere Viaduct, locally known as "Alman Köprüsü" or "Koca Köprü" (literally: ''German Viaduct'' or ''Big Viaduct''), is a

railway viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide ...

situated at Hacıkırı (Kıralan) village in

Karaisalı Karaisalı is a small town and a district in Adana Province of Turkey, administratively a part of the Metropolitan Municipality of Adana. The area contains the reservoirs of Çatalan and Nergizlik. There is a wrestling tournament in late-April t ...

district of

Adana Province Adana Province ( tr, ) is a province of Turkey located in central Cilicia. With a population of 2.26 million, it is the sixth most populous province in Turkey. The administrative seat of the province is the city of Adana, home to 79% of the r ...

in southern Turkey. Designed and built by Imperial German engineers as part of the

Baghdad Railway 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 ...

(

Haydarpaşa Terminal Haydarpaşa is a neighborhood within the Kadıköy and Üsküdar districts on the Asian part of Istanbul, Turkey. Haydarpaşa is named after Ottoman Vizier Haydar Pasha. The place, on the coast of Sea of Marmara, borders to Harem in the northwest ...

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

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 ...

), the stone arch structure is from

Adana Central Station Adana station ( tr, Adana garı) is a railway station in Adana and one of the major railway hubs in Turkey. The station is located at the İstasyon Square, in Kurtuluş, Seyhan. The Central Station is steps away from the Vilayet Metro station ...

and from

Konya Konya () is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium (), although the Seljuks also called it ...

Design and construction

The building of the viaduct was coupled with the construction of the Ottoman-German project of Istanbul-Baghdad railway line to connect

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

with

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is han ...

, then part of the Ottoman Empire, to enable direct supply of oil to German industry. The most difficult terrain on the route to overcome was the section at the

Taurus Mountains The Taurus Mountains ( Turkish: ''Toros Dağları'' or ''Toroslar'') are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, separating the Mediterranean coastal region from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğird ...

between Konya and Adana, more specifically around the region of Belemedik, where in a distance of 22 tunnels in a row had to be dug in 20 years. Financed by the German

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...

, the construction of the viaduct was commissioned to Philipp Holzmann & Cie, a renowned German construction company with experience in the field of major infrastructure works. The design and engineering work was carried out by the German Winkler and the Greek-Ottoman Nicholas Mavrogordato, who became responsible chief engineer after the death of Winkler. In 1903, the construction work force, consisting of German technical staff and thousands of multi-national workers, settled in a camp newly established in Belemedik, where all necessary facilities such as hospital, church, school, movie theatre and even mosque were built. The railway line had to cross the deep canyon of a creek called then

Giaour Giaour or Gawur (; tr, gâvur, ; from fa, گور ''gâvor'' an obsolete variant of modern گبر ''gaur'', originally derived from arc, 𐡂𐡁𐡓𐡀, ''gaḇrā'', man; person; ro, ghiaur; al, kaur; gr, γκιαούρης, gkiaoúris, ...

Dere (today "Çakıt Deresi") that is situated between Hacıkırı village and

town. Main materials such as steel and cement were shipped to Mersin by sea, and transported further via Tarsus to the construction site on camelback. Before the construction of the actual viaduct began, a temporary viaduct with a narrow gauge railway on it was built over the canyon close to the projected viaduct to bring all the necessary material to the other side. Following the completion of the Varda Viaduct, the auxiliary viaduct was taken out of service, however, its pillars are still existing. The construction began in 1905, and in 1907, the main works were completed. Technical details were accomplished in 1912. The railway on the viaduct went into service in 1916. The long and high structure consists of eleven ashlar arch spans in total. The central portion has three arches, with

spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...

arches over the piers, and is flanked on each side by four arch spans, at one side one of , three of and at the other side four of . After erecting the masonry pillars, the arches were built over a temporary

falsework Falsework consists of temporary structures used in construction to support a permanent structure until its construction is sufficiently advanced to support itself. For arches, this is specifically called centering. Falsework includes temporary s ...

steel frame, which was placed on the pillars. The viaduct, which spans in north–south direction, is curved having a radius of curvature of . The first Ottoman high official to pass over the Varda Viaduct was Minister of War Enver Pasha on February 18, 1917. Shortly before the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the bridge was used by retreating German troops.

Location and access

The railway stations at opposite ends of the viaduct, Hacıkırı and Karaisalı Bucağı, are still being served today by the "Central Anatolian Blue train" ( tr, İç Anadolu Mavi treni). The nearest railway station to the viaduct is Hacıkırı, which is at a distance of about .

In popular media

The Varda Viaduct was featured in the opening chase scene in the James Bond film ''

Skyfall ''Skyfall'' is a 2012 spy film and the twenty-third in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions. The film is the third to star Daniel Craig as fictional MI6 agent James Bond and features Javier Bardem as Raoul Silva, the vill ...

'', released in October 2012. The viaduct was featured in the Turkish film '' Küf (Mold)'' directed by Ali Aydin, released November 2013.

References

External links

Images of Varda Viaduct by Mustafa Tor at Anadolu (Fotoğraf Dergisi, Vol. 7)
{{Authority control Railway bridges in Turkey Buildings and structures in Adana Province Karaisalı Viaducts Ottoman bridges in Turkey Stone bridges in Turkey Turkish State Railways Transport in Adana Province Bridges completed in 1916 1916 establishments in the Ottoman Empire Stone arch bridges