Tabakhane Köprüsü

Tabakhane Bridge is a historic bridge crossing the deep valley cut by the Kuzgun stream on the eastern side of Ortahisar. Sources also call the Kuzgun stream the Tabakhane stream, and it forms the eastern ditch of the historic city. The western foot of the bridge rests on Ortahisar, and today the structure links the Ortahisar and Cumhuriyet neighbourhoods. The bridge is the crossing that connects the Tabakhane Gate on the castle's eastern face with the eastern side of the city. According to sources, the first construction of the bridge goes back to the Roman period, to the 1st century AD. The Trabzon Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism states that it has reached the present day through many repairs and extensions. Evliya Çelebi wrote that the bridge was a Karakoyunlu building. According to the provincial culture directorate, the bridge in its present form is an Ottoman structure and took its final shape in the 19th century. Turkish Wikipedia also records that the bridge was repaired in 1880. According to a news report from April 2026, credited to the İhlas News Agency, an archaeological excavation and restoration process has been launched at the bridge. The same report says the first phase of the bridge goes back to Rome and that it was widened under the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. According to the report, the structure was repaired in the period of the Empire of Trebizond and rebuilt in masonry by the Akkoyunlu ruler Uzun Hasan. It is also written that it underwent a thorough repair in 1833 under Emin Muhlis Pasha, governor of Trabzon. On this information the bridge consists of two main parts, Roman in the south and Akkoyunlu-Ottoman in the north. Kültür Portalı describes the bridge as built in two tiers. The lower tier has a single arch. The upper tier has a row of six arches with oval vaults. Turkish Wikipedia likewise describes the structure as a six-arched bridge. This two-level arrangement shows that the bridge was both raised and lengthened to span the deep valley. The valley itself is part of the bridge's story. English Wikipedia writes that in the 20th century the valley filled up with illegal buildings that in places blocked the view of the walls. The same source states that these buildings have been torn down in recent years and that the valley is planned to become a park. According to the news report, the chairman of the Trabzon Association for the Protection of Natural and Historical Values said that there are Roman-era rock tombs, aqueducts and quay remains in the valley. He also said the area could become an archaeological park together with the bridge and the quay. To understand the bridge you need to see it both from above and from the side. Walking across it, you can look past the stone parapets into the depth of the valley and at the old houses on the opposite slope. Looking from the paths that lead down into the valley, the two-tier arrangement of the arches reads much more clearly. The provincial culture directorate also notes the Kuzgundere Aqueduct, known as the Thin Bridge and dated to the 13th century, a little to the north in the valley. For photographs, framing the bridge from the northern side of the valley and from a high point on the walls gives good results. The bridge is open to one-way vehicle traffic today, so you need to watch for cars when walking across it. During the excavation and restoration there may be work areas and temporary closures around it. The current situation should be checked in the announcements of the local authorities. It is easily reached on foot from the city centre and from Ortahisar. For a walker following the walls from west to east, Tabakhane Bridge is the natural end of a walk that starts in Zağnos Valley.