Kanuni Köprüsü

The Kanuni Bridge, also known as the Palace Bridge, is a historic stone bridge in Edirne that crosses a branch of the Tunca River and links the city centre to Sarayiçi. It takes its name from Suleiman the Magnificent, known in Turkish as Kanuni, who ordered its construction. According to Wikipedia the bridge connects the city centre with the palace Hasbahçe garden and today belongs to the General Directorate of Highways. It was built of cut stone with four arches. Sources give different dates for its construction. Turkish Wikipedia gives 1553-1554 and English Wikipedia gives 1554, while Turkish Archaeological News mentions both possibilities, 1553-1554 or 1560. The bridge is usually attributed to Mimar Sinan, and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism brochure also presents it as the four-arched Kanuni (Palace) Bridge built by Sinan. Turkish Archaeological News notes that the bridge does not appear in the Ottoman-era lists of Sinan's works, but that Ahmet Badi Efendi's book Riyaz-ı Belde-i Edirne mentions it as a building by Sinan. For its dimensions the most common figures are a length of 60 metres and a width of 4.5 metres. The bridge held an important place in the life of the palace. According to the Kültür Portalı, Suleiman redefined the main entrance of the palace by building a bridge on the axis of the Fatih Bridge over the canal dug to protect the palace grounds from floods. The article on Edirne Palace states that water reached the palace grounds through pipes laid across this bridge. In other words, the bridge was not only a crossing but also part of the waterway that supplied the palace. According to Turkish Archaeological News, the bridge was badly damaged in the flood of 1902 and its last major repair was completed in 1990. The floods of the Tunca affected every building on Sarayiçi for centuries, which is why the bridge's sturdy stone piers matter. The reflection of the arches in the water makes the bridge an attractive photographic subject, especially on days when the river is calm. The triangular projections of the piers between the arches, which act as cutwaters splitting the current, deserve a careful look. The Kanuni Bridge belongs to Edirne's family of bridges over the Tunca. The ministry brochure lists it together with the three-arched Fatih (Arsenal) Bridge of the 15th century, the Sultan Bayezid II Bridge built in 1488 together with the Bayezid II Complex, Sinan's Yalnızgöz Bridge, the Saraçhane Bridge commissioned in 1451 by the vizier Şahabeddin Pasha and the Tunca Bridge built by Sedefkar Mehmed Ağa in the early 17th century. According to Turkish Archaeological News, the Saraçhane Bridge stands just before the point where the river divides into the two branches around Sarayiçi. The Fatih Bridge spans the northern branch of the river and was built in 1452, a year before the conquest of Istanbul. According to Wikipedia, this three-arched bridge links the Hasbahçe with the palace's Kum Square and is also known as the Arsenal, Cavalry or Hasbahçe Bridge. Turkish Archaeological News reports that the Saraçhane Bridge is 120 metres long and 5 metres wide and was first repaired in 1706 under Mustafa II. According to the same source, the latest renovation of the Saraçhane Bridge was carried out in 2007. Today the bridge is a crossing used by pedestrians and light traffic, and you can walk across it. As you approach from the city side, the green plain of Sarayiçi and the surroundings of the Kırkpınar wrestling arena come into view opposite. After crossing the bridge the road leads to the ruins of Edirne Palace and the Pavilion of Justice. You can reach it on foot from the Selimiye area by walking towards the Tunca; the route is flat and easy. The grassy banks on both sides of the bridge are good places to sit and watch the river. For photographs the best angle is from the side, on the riverbank, where all the arches and their reflection fit into a single frame. In the morning and evening the light brings out the warm colour of the stone. When the river rises in the rainy seasons, take care on the bank. As the bridge stands in the open air it can be seen in every season, and no ticket is needed to visit it. The Kanuni Bridge is the natural link of a walk through the palace and hospital along the Tunca, and it makes sense to begin a visit to Sarayiçi here.