Küçükçekmece Köprüsü

A stone bridge over the outlet where Lake Küçükçekmece opens into the Marmara, on the old road linking Istanbul to the Balkans. According to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam there has been a bridge here since Roman times; Emperor Justinian rebuilt it on a stone arch and Mehmed the Conqueror repaired it in 1455. The present bridge is said to have been begun under Süleyman the Magnificent and finished under Selim II; it does not appear in Mimar Sinan's lists of works and may be by Acem Ali. It is 210 metres long and 7.60 metres wide. Widened during the First World War, it has largely lost its original form. Western sources call it Ponte Piccolo.