Ottoman-era bridge in Eastern Europe - Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge in Višegrad 1260
What and Why
The Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge (Serbo-Croatian: Most Mehmed-paše Sokolovića) is a historic arch-bridge in Višegrad, over the Drina River in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosna i Hercegovina). It was completed during the mid-16th century CE.
The bridge is considered the representation of the apex of Ottoman architecture. Moreover since it crosses two shores where one side is dominantly Christian while the other side is pre-dominantly Islamic, this bridge bears an extra symbolic significance as the meeting place between the two faiths, akin to the other famous bridge, Stari Most, in our blogged Mostar.
The bridge was commissioned by the vizier Mehmed Pasha Sokolović (Ottoman Turkish: سوکلو محمد پاشا, Sokollu Mehmed Pasha) and built by the famous Ottoman architect Mi'mâr Sinân (Ottoman Turkish: معمار سينان) during the summit of the Ottoman Empire (Ottoman Turkish: دولت عثمانيه, Devlet-i ʿʿOsmānīye) as a tribute to his native region and a symbol of trade and prosperity. The UNESCO citation reads: 'The unique elegance of proportion and monumental nobility of the property as a whole bear witness to the greatness of this style of architecture'. Clearly the bridge can look a bit bland and outdated to laymen nowadays, compared to more technical bridges built in modern eras.
Toponymy
Višegrad means 'the upper town' in Slavic.
See
Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge (Most Mehmed-paše Sokolovića)
The bridge has eleven iconic masonry arches which is a vogue design during the era. All of these arches were damaged or destroyed during the two World Wars but were subsequently restored.
The bridge is widely known because of the book The Bridge on the Drina (Na Drini Ćuprija) written by Nobel-Prize (Swedish: Nobelpriset) winning author Ivo Andrić.
Andrićgrad
As imagined, because of the popularity of the bridge and its relationship with Andrić, a tourist site is built nearby, featuring buildings inspired by various historical periods in Bosnian history. It was used as a set to the namesake movie of the title. Unexciting town with nothing but tourist traps now.
Sarajevo
We were using Sarajevo as a station for this trip, and while we did not spend a lot of time here, this is definitely a city that should not be missed, as it is really perhaps the most culturally diverse city in Europe or perhaps the world. The city is traditionally famous for its religious diversity, with Muslims, Orthodox Christians, Catholics, and Jews co-existing here for centuries; and perhaps as a result it became the epicentre of two major confrontations of the world history: World War I and the Bosnian War. It also held one of the most successful Winter Olympics in modern history, the 1984 CE Winter Olympics.
On 28 June 1914 CE, Archduke Franz Ferdinand (né Franz Habsburg-Lorraine), heir presumptive to the Austria-Hungary (German: Österreich-Ungarn), visited Sarajevo, the then Bosnia (Bosna) capital. The militant group Mlada Bosna, gathered on the street where the Archduke's motorcade was to pass, with the intention of assassinating him. The political objective of the assassination was to break off Austria-Hungary's Slav provinces, which Austria-Hungary had annexed from the Ottoman Empire, so they could be combined into a Yugoslavia (Serbo-Croato-Slovene: Југославија). However the initial assassination failed and injured only the convoy members instead.
About an hour later, when Franz Ferdinand was returning from a visit at the Sarajevo Hospital with those wounded in the assassination attempt, the convoy took a wrong turn into a street where one of the assassins of the group, Gavrilo Princip, happened to be standing there. Princip shot and killed Ferdinand and his wife Sofia (née Sophie von Chotkow und Wognin). This subsequently triggered large-scale riots in the country and this political event sparked a butterfly effect which eventually led to World War I. The same spot became an important historic site to visit.
The town is now seriously wounded and dilapidated, with the main sites being the various bullet marks ubiquitous around the city, as above. This spot above sits the plaque where literally the World War I began.
Buy and Do
The area has a good number of spa and hot springs. Many people also take a dip in the water or do kayaking.
Stay
We stayed in beautifully-built Holiday Inn Sarajevo, which carries a very eventful signature to history. Sarajevo's iconic yellow-facade hotel was actually built for the 1984 CE Winter Olympics, and the hotel sits in the centre-stage of the tumultuous events that would unfold in Bosnia in the next 20 years.
The hotel was the main hotel that reporters stayed during the height of Bosnian War and was constantly under siege and attack. As a former aspiring Olympian, this also added extra flavour and awe to my stay. The plates which I was using during breakfast still bears the Olympic logo after some 30 years! Not sure if this is a good thing though...
Travel Suggestions and Logistics
We took a coach bus to the site. From Sarajevo the town is 120 km away. The area is very tiny and can be easily explored on foot.
Višegrad, Sarajevo and Mostar all lie on the same road and from one end to the other it would be a four-hour drive. They are best combined together for a two to three-day trip with a good stay in Sarajevo, which lies exactly mid-way.
To be honest, Sarajevo is not the safest city. Outside the city, there are still occasional bomb, landmine scares and violence. The city itself is not affluent and is full of pickpockets. Bosnia and Herzegovina also records one of the worst fatal traffic accidents rates in Europe.
Although the war has ended almost 30 years ago, the scar of the war is still clearly visible and ethnic conflicts are far from resolved and forgotten. Almost everyone in the Bosnia and Herzogovina has lost close-ones during the war and extreme sensitivity should be exercised when discussing the topic, if the discussion is at all necessary.
UNESCO Inscription
The Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge of Višegrad across the Drina River in the east of Bosnia and Herzegovina was built at the end of the 16th century by the court architect Mimar Koca Sinan on the orders of Grand Vizier Mehmed Paša Sokolović. Characteristic of the apogee of Ottoman monumental architecture and civil engineering, the bridge has 11 masonry arches with spans of 11 m to 15 m, and an access ramp at right angles with four arches on the left bank of the river. The 179.5 m long bridge is a representative masterpiece of Sinan, one of the greatest architects and engineers of the classical Ottoman period and a contemporary of the Italian Renaissance, with which his work may be compared. The unique elegance of proportion and monumental nobility of the whole site bear witness to the greatness of this style of architecture.
References
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Please share your thoughts and comments about the blog. If you need suggestions to build a travel itinerary, please let me know. More than willing to help. I would also like to build a bespoke-travel community around UNESCO WHS and ICH.
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