Uzunköprü ( ''Long Bridge''), formerly , is a 15th-century
Ottoman stone bridge over the
River Ergene in
Edirne Province
Edirne Province () is a Turkish province located in East Thrace. Part of European Turkey, it is one of only three provinces located entirely within continental Europe. Its area is 6,145 km2, and its population is 414,714 (2022). Edirne Province ...
, northwestern Turkey. The bridge gave its name to the nearby town of
Uzunköprü. It is claimed to be the world's longest stone bridge. It was built to facilitate crossing the Ergene for troops during river floods, and to replace a wooden bridge; previous structures had rapidly deteriorated or had been destroyed.
Construction of the bridge was started in 1426 or 1427, and ended in 1443 or 1444. The newly-completed bridge had a length of , spanning 174
arch
An arch is a curved vertical structure spanning an open space underneath it. Arches may support the load above them, or they may perform a purely decorative role. As a decorative element, the arch dates back to the 4th millennium BC, but stru ...
es. The stones include several figures and
motifs, which were replaced over time.
The bridge was repaired following earthquakes and floods, which decreased its length, and the number of its arches. In 1971, it was widened to and was covered over with steel and concrete. Heavy vehicles were banned from using the bridge in 2013, as an alternative concrete bridge was being built. The bridge was closed to traffic in September 2021 for another restoration project after cracks had started to appear in the stones a few years earlier. One aim of the restoration is to excavate some of the buried arches.
Background
The swampy nature of the area meant it unsuitable for settlement until the
Ottoman period; the earliest settlers lived in the surrounding hilly regions. Occasional floods at
Ergene
Ergene (; ; ''Eryinis'', , ''Agriánēs'') is a major left tributary of the Maritsa (Meriç) river, flowing entirely in the East Thrace region of Turkey.
The river rises from the southern part of Strandzha mountain, not far from the Black Sea and ...
made the crossings of Ottoman military expeditions into
Rumelia
Rumelia (; ; ) was a historical region in Southeastern Europe that was administered by the Ottoman Empire, roughly corresponding to the Balkans. In its wider sense, it was used to refer to all Ottoman possessions and Vassal state, vassals in E ...
difficult.
The ground where the bridge is located has a structure consisting of
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...
and
sandstone
Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
. Several wooden bridges on the same location had already preceded the current structure. The wooden bridges were destructed quickly by either enemies or high tides. Sultan
Murad II
Murad II (, ; June 1404 – 3 February 1451) was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1421 to 1444 and from 1446 to 1451.
Early life
Murad was born in June 1404 to Mehmed I, while the identity of his mother is disputed according to v ...
ordered a new stone bridge to be made long and strong so that it was still crossable during high
tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another.
Tide tables ...
s. Additionally, the stone bridge provided a safe crossing of the marshy location on the
Gallipoli
The Gallipoli Peninsula (; ; ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles strait to the east.
Gallipoli is the Italian form of the Greek name (), meaning ' ...
–Edirne route.
History
Construction and opening
The land where Uzunköprü Bridge was to be built had first to be cleared up from
spinose structures and other vegetation, which had provided cover for thieves and thugs.
Ottoman scholars differ about the year construction of the bridge began—according to
Hoca Sadeddin Efendi
Hoca Sadeddin Efendi (; 1536/1537 – October 2, 1599İsmail Hâmi Danişmend, ''Osmanlı Devlet Erkânı'', Türkiye Yayınevi, İstanbul, 1971, p. 118. ) was an Ottoman Islamic scholar, theologian, official, and historian, a teacher of the f ...
, it was started in 1426/7, but wrote that construction on the bridge was begun in 1427/8 by the sultan's head architect Muslihiddin and craftsman Mehmed, and that it was completed in 1443/4.
Stones were sourced from quarries in the nearby villages of
Yağmurca,
Eskiköy and
Hasırcıarnavut. The bridge was built using pre-cut blocks of
limestone
Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
. Khorasan
mortar, which slowly hardens on contact with the air, was used to bind the blocks together. At places where the
abutment
An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end that provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...
s could not be built on a solid rock foundation,
wooden piles were used. It is not known if
cofferdam
A cofferdam is an enclosure built within a body of water to allow the enclosed area to be pumped out or drained. This pumping creates a dry working environment so that the work can be carried out safely. Cofferdams are commonly used for constru ...
s were used, but it is likely they were not, as most of the work on the bridge would have taken place during dry periods, when the river level was lower. Once the foundation was ready, the stones making up the
arch
An arch is a curved vertical structure spanning an open space underneath it. Arches may support the load above them, or they may perform a purely decorative role. As a decorative element, the arch dates back to the 4th millennium BC, but stru ...
es were laid using wooden
molds in the shapes of the arches. At wet periods or at places where the river was running, the formwork was placed in special slots, which was a difficult process. This is seen as the reason as to why construction took sixteen years.
The bridge was named ("Ergene Bridge"). A mosque,
imaret and
madrasa
Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes Romanization of Arabic, romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whet ...
was also built. The village, of Yaylar arose at the western end, while the town of
Uzunköprü ( ''Long Bridge'') was founded at the eastern end— the town taking its name from the bridge.
The magnificent opening ceremony for the bridge was attended by the sultan, who was returning to Istanbul after his victory at the
Battle of Varna.
16th to 20th century
Uzunköprü Bridge is first known to have been repaired in 1546, when work was done to the bridge and several
mills on the Ergene. The first major restoration took place in 1620. The bridge was renamed the in 1718, but had been given its original name by 1727, when the French explorer recorded that the local residents referred to both the town and the bridge as Uzunköprü.
After earthquakes and flooding caused four of the bridge's arches to collapse in 1822/3, three larger arches were built to replace them. After a series of earthquakes that occurred during the late 19th century destroyed three of the arches in 1901, two new arches were built. They were completed three years later.
In 1908, the municipality removed stone blocks from the bridge to make
drinking fountain
A drinking fountain, also called a water fountain or water bubbler, is a fountain designed to provide drinking water. It consists of a basin with either continuously running water or a tap. The drinker bends down to the stream of water and s ...
s inside the town. In 1956, following a particularly harsh winter, flooding swept away the last of the bridge's two mills. In 1957, a section of the dock was filled in to create a car park. From 1964 to 1971, the bridge underwent a restoration by the
General Directorate of Highways, who widened it by to , and covered the top with a steel and concrete deck for the use of two-way traffic. The resulting heavy traffic that used the bridge caused severe damage to its structure.
Gaps between stones that had appeared were filled with stone mortar in 1993.
21st century
A new concrete bridge built away was opened in 2013, and heavy vehicles were prohibited from using the historic bridge.
In 2015, the bridge was added to the
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
World Heritage Site
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
Tentative List in the Cultural category.
In 2018, a picture of the historic bridge was meant to be put on the first page of the new
Turkish passport. However, the
Ministry of Interior
An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement.
In some states, th ...
accidentally used a picture of the
Meriç Bridge
Meriç Bridge (), ''Yeni Köprü'', meaning New Bridge or Mecidiye Bridge, after Sultan Abdülmecid I, is a historic Ottoman bridge in Edirne (formerly Adrianople), Turkey. It crosses the Meriç river, formerly carrying the state road , connecti ...
instead, while the photo was still labelled as Uzunköprü.
In early 2019, cracks started to appear on the stones at the base that could be seen every . Locals requested the bridge to be restored to its original version as it deviated from its form with the 1971 restoration, and for it to be preserved as a cultural asset.
In March 2021, it was announced that the
tender for the restoration was completed, and that work on the bridge was set to start soon.
In September 2021, the bridge was closed in order for further restoration work to be done, including the repair of 25 arches, the replacement of the
asphalt concrete
Asphalt concrete (commonly called asphalt, blacktop, or pavement in North America, and Tarmacadam, tarmac or bitumen macadam in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland) is a composite material commonly used to surface road surface, roads ...
road surface with stones, and the replacement of any missing blocks of stone.
At the time it was announced that the restoration would take between three and four years to complete.
Specifications
Uzunköprü is the longest stone bridge in the world.
When it was first completed, was long and wide.
The bridge was the longest in the Ottoman Empire and later Turkey, a title which it held for 530 years until 1973, when it was surpassed by the
Bosphorus Bridge
The Bosphorus Bridge (), known officially as the 15 July Martyrs Bridge () and colloquially as the First Bridge (), is the oldest and southernmost of the three suspension bridges spanning the Bosphorus strait (Turkish: ''Boğaziçi'') in Ist ...
in
Istanbul
Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
.
The Ottoman explorer
Evliya Çelebi
Dervish Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi (), was an Ottoman Empire, Ottoman explorer who travelled through his home country during its cultural zenith as well as neighboring lands. He travelled for over 40 years, rec ...
visited the town of Uzunköprü in 1658, and described the bridge as being 2000 "stretched steps" long. In 1978, the length of the bridge was measured to be ; it was determined to be in 1989. In 2018, the bridge was found to be long, when its length was measured for the ''
Guinness Book of World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...
''.
The bridge was originally built with 174 arches, the largest of which had a span of .
Some of the arches are pointed and some are round. Some of the abutments have carvings of figures of animals such as elephants, lions and birds, some of which are no longer visible. There are also
motifs related to the
Seljuk Empire
The Seljuk Empire, or the Great Seljuk Empire, was a High Middle Ages, high medieval, culturally Turco-Persian tradition, Turco-Persian, Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslim empire, established and ruled by the Qiniq (tribe), Qïnïq branch of Oghuz Turks. ...
. It is believed that some figures and motifs were altered during restorations that took place before the 19th century.
Restoration work on the bridge over the years has reduced the number of arches to 172. Of these, eight have since become buried underground, meaning that there are now 164 arches. The 2021 restoration work aims to unearth several of these buried arches.
There are two balconies on the bridge. One is above arches 40 and 41, and is by in length. The other balcony is above arches 102 and 103, and measures by .
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Uzunkopru Bridge
Bridges completed in the 15th century
Buildings and structures completed in 1443
Transport infrastructure completed in the 1440s
Arch bridges in Turkey
Stone bridges in Turkey
Ottoman bridges in Turkey
Buildings and structures in Edirne Province
Road bridges in Turkey
World Heritage Tentative List for Turkey