Covered Bridge

About this place

The Covered Bridge is a roofed bridge over the Osam River in Lovech, northern Bulgaria, linking the modern part of the city with the Varosha historical and architectural reserve, about 73 km west of Veliko Tarnovo in a straight line. It is the only one of its kind in the Balkans and the official symbol of the city. The French traveller Ami Boué described a covered bridge lined with little shops in Lovech in 1838, but river floods swept the old bridges away. In the 1870s the Bulgarian master builder Nikola Fichev, known as Kolyu Ficheto, built a famous covered timber bridge without a single metal part, holding 64 small shops. That bridge burned down in 1925; it was rebuilt between 1926 and 1931, and reconstructed again in 1981–82. Today the bridge runs 106 metres over the river, under a long timber roof with windows looking down on the water on both sides. Inside, a shaded passage is lined with small shops selling souvenirs of Lovech and the region; from outside its dark wooden walls sit on stone piers, with the city's hills and fortress behind. Visitors cross on foot, browse the shops, then climb into the old Varosha quarter on the far bank. The bridge is lit at night, and the view from the riverbanks is lovely at sunset.