Karaosmanoglu Bridge

Basin: Gediz. Watercourse: Nif (Kemalpaşa) Stream (tributary of the Gediz). The bridge is located in İzmir – Bornova, Çiçekliköy, at the Arapalanı locality, at coordinates 38°29'38.40"N 27°17'47.47"E.

Popularly known as the Historic Roman Bridge, the structure is a main-arch bridge with a slight gradient in both directions, comprising ten arches. On the upstream face, between the main arch and two adjacent arches, pointed architectural elements called "selyaran" (cutwaters) channel the river water into the arches with their angled surfaces. The construction material is rubble stone, with rough-hewn stone visible in places and dressed ashlar in the coursework of the three largest arches. In addition, voids between the larger stones have been filled with brick fragments. The bridge measures 64 metres in length, 3.6 metres in width, with a major arch span of 5.5 metres.

The structure bears no inscription, and no directly relevant documentation has been found. The two bridges depicted in an 1858 painting by the German artist Carl Haag may well be this bridge in Çiçekliköy and the Small Bridge situated 159 metres to the north-east, spanning a minor stream. Since no other pair of bridges matching this description and position exists in and around İzmir, it is accepted that these are the bridges Haag depicted and that the structure pre-dates 1858.

The Small Bridge is a single-arch bridge with a slight gradient in both directions. Its body walls are of rubble stone, whilst the round-arched main span is constructed with dressed ashlar. The bridge has a recorded width of 3.80 metres and length of 18.30 metres. It bears no inscription, though it is thought to have been built at the same time as the Large Bridge.

Moreover, the record of a "Great Bridge" over the Nif constructed in 1793 by Pulad Mehmed Ağa of the Karaosmanoğlu dynasty may be regarded as a corroborating source, given its consistency with these circumstances. Although Kiepert's map shows three separate roads from Bornova towards Sabuncubeli and Manisa — all crossing the Nif — no bridge is marked at any point in this section. Before restoration, traces of an old stone-paved road curving northward from the bridge's northern end were still observable. This road is understood to have led to the Small Bridge, 159 metres to the north-east, and after crossing it, to have branched towards Çiçekliköy, Yakaköy and Manisa.

Following the restoration of the Karaosmanoğlu / Nif Bridge and the Small Bridge, a stone pathway was laid between them, taking advantage of the short distance separating the two. The area has thus been transformed into a space where visitors can walk along a "nature trail."

It may be said that the Arap Deresi Bridge in Bornova Işıkkent and the Karaosmanoğlu / Nif Bridge and Small Bridge in Çiçekliköy stood on a caravan route and that the bridges in these two localities were linked by this same thoroughfare.

Çiçek Güneş – Art Historian

Reference: Dr Ender Özbay, Research Assistant