In our last issue, we wrote about the history of bridges with traces of Anatolian civilizations. This issue will be about Ottoman Bridges.

After the Romans, it was the Ottoman masters who developed the art of bridge making in Anatolia. The Ottoman bridges are defined with their arcaded structures, and the high-arched bridges were built only if the river underneath the bridge allowed it. The typical Ottoman arcaded bridges have arcades of equal size or the middle arcade is the biggest, and the adjacent ones get smaller towards the edges. This is one of the leading characteristics of Ottoman bridges is the “History” and “Watch” pavilions. These balcony-like pavilions are usually have walls with inscriptions telling the history of the bridge. The Bursa Selçuk Hatun Bridge is one of the first examples of these history pavilions.

Ottoman Bridges and Sinan

There are more than 100 Ottoman bridges that survived to this day. The ones built by Architect Sinan are the most special ones. These are the main Sinan bridges.

Sinan Bridges:

Cisr-i Mustafa Pascha: Mustafa Pascha is 30 km to northwest of Edirne and on the Maritza River. The name of the bridge comes from an earlier bridge over the river. The present one is in Svilengrad. Bulgaria. It is 300 meters in length and has 20 arcades.

Odabaşı: It is to North of the Küçükçekmece bridge on Sazlıdere creek, and it has 8 arcades. The bridge was built in 1529.

Kanuni: The bridge is on the Dilderesi Creek flowing to Diliskelese in Gebze. The middle span is 9.70 meters and the bridge has 3 arcades.