The Kufic inscription
Two lines on the southern face date the bridge to 1065 and name the Marwanid emirs and the builder; many scholars think they record a repair, so the bridge is older still.
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For close to a thousand years this bridge has carried the road across the Tigris on ten pointed arches of black basalt, and it only stopped working in November 2009, when Diyarbakır decided to spare it the traffic and built a replacement a kilometre downstream. The Kufic inscription on its southern face dates it to 457 AH (1065) under the Kurdish Marwanid emirs and names the builder, Yusuf son of Ubayd. The twist is that many scholars read the inscription as a record of repair rather than construction, which makes the bridge older than its own date. It runs a little over 170 metres, the widest arch spans more than 14 metres, and the deck narrows and widens along its length, a sign that later generations added to it rather than rebuilding it. Be honest with yourself: the bridge itself takes five minutes to cross and then it is over. What earns the trip is what you see from the south bank at sunset: the black walls of Diyarbakır and the İçkale citadel on the cliff edge, with the green Hevsel Gardens spreading some seven hundred hectares beneath them to the river, both on the UNESCO list since 2015. This is the postcard view of the city, and the bridge is one of the best spots that puts walls, gardens and river in a single frame. Getting there is easy: a taxi from Mardin Gate takes minutes, or you can walk down through the Hevsel Gardens in about forty-five minutes on a dirt track that is unpaved in places; no good for pushchairs, fine for a family whose children can walk. In August the heat climbs toward forty degrees and tops it on some days, so go down late in the afternoon and take a taxi back up. In spring the river runs high and mud-brown beneath the ten arches, and that is when it looks its best. On the bank there are simple tea gardens where locals picnic on summer evenings, and about a kilometre upstream stands the fifteenth-century Akkoyunlu mansion of Gazi Köşkü with its garden, Atatürk's headquarters during the First World War. Fold all three into a half-day with the city walls; on its own the bridge is a pleasant half hour and no more.
Two lines on the southern face date the bridge to 1065 and name the Marwanid emirs and the builder; many scholars think they record a repair, so the bridge is older still.
From the south bank you see the black walls of Diyarbakır and the İçkale citadel above the green Hevsel Gardens in one frame.
Tea gardens and summer-evening picnics, with the fifteenth-century Akkoyunlu mansion of Gazi Köşkü about a kilometre upstream.
Tigris valley, old Mardin road, Sur district, Diyarbakır
Walk down through the Hevsel Gardens if the weather is mild and the children can manage: it is a steady 45-minute descent through the best of the city. The climb back is another matter, so take a taxi from the riverbank. In August, or with a pushchair, take the taxi both ways.
No. The bridge itself is crossed in minutes; its value is the view back to the walls and gardens. Make it the sunset finale of a walls tour, or skip it if your time in Diyarbakır is short.