Sinan's work
Eleven arches from 1577.
Velika beba — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Velika beba — CC BY-SA 3.0 · JankoSam — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Svetlana Novakovic74 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · JankoSam — CC BY-SA 4.0
One of the greatest Ottoman bridges in the Balkans, over the Drina in the town of Višegrad in eastern Bosnia, built in 1577 by Mimar Sinan, the Ottoman Empire's most famous architect, for the Grand Vizier Mehmed Paša Sokolović, who was born in a nearby village and taken to Istanbul as a boy, and wished to link his homeland to the capital. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2007. The bridge runs about a hundred and eighty metres on eleven harmonious stone arches, with a stone terrace called the kapija at its middle where travellers rested, bearing an Ottoman Turkish inscription dating the work. It became world famous through The Bridge on the Drina, the novel by Nobel laureate Ivo Andrić, which tells four centuries of the town's life around it. The town suffered terrible crimes in the 1990s war, and the bridge carries painful memories for Bosnia's Muslims. Crossing is free and always open to pedestrians. On the far bank lies Andrićgrad, a new stone quarter built in historic style in the writer's honour. It is loveliest early in the morning when mist covers the river, and at sunset. Višegrad is about two and a half hours by car from Sarajevo, so make it a day trip or a stop on the way to Serbia.
Eleven arches from 1577.
The Bridge on the Drina.
The resting terrace mid-span.
Over the Drina river, Višegrad town, eastern Bosnia
Mimar Sinan in 1577, for the Grand Vizier Mehmed Paša Sokolović, born in the area.