Guide
The bridge at Uzunköprü is among the most important pieces of cultural inheritance in Edirne and in Türkiye. Work on it began in 1427, in the reign of Murad II, took sixteen years, and the bridge came into use in 1443. The source calls it the longest stone bridge in the world. The master who built it was Muslihittin Bey.
The Edirne provincial yearbook gives the bridge as 1,392 metres long and 5.50 metres wide; its length today is 1,272 metres. In the repairs of 1964 balcony-like widenings were added on both sides, bringing the width to between 6.80 and 6.90 metres. It was built with 174 high arches, of which 164 stand today.
To the right and left of the great openings over the Ergene are relief arches, seven of them in all. On the piers and on the keystones of the arches are animal figures and stylised plant motifs standing for strength and power. Among them a lion is carved with, behind its hind legs, a woman's head standing for the moon, and on the same face, set against it, there is a tulip motif; on the other face is an elephant, again standing for strength and long life.
The fountain at the head of the bridge was moved here later. The original inscription recording a repair by Mahmud II was chiselled off during the Greek occupation, and a marble inscription in the modern alphabet now stands in its place, framed above and below by scrollwork and rose motifs.
The bridge is still in use. It carries a triangular date pavilion 2.55 metres high and 4.50 metres wide, along with two balconies. It was registered by the regional conservation board on 16 July 2010, and its restoration was taken into the 2014 programme of the General Directorate of Highways.
