From Maritsa to Mostar

Rumelia Bridges in Poetry

Abstract

Rumor has it that that the Turks crossed the Marmara Sea on rafts. The Ottoman Empire, which set out from Gallipoli and became a state first and then an empire; reached the Balkan and Europe through bridges. Every bridge built  over the huge rivers Ottomans crossed slowly became a signature of that region or city.

Spectacular stone bridges, which are both art and aesthetic monuments and meet the transportation needs of the army, were built on the rivers from the capital to the last point Empire reached. Many bridges, especially the Mostar Bridge, Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge, Stone Bridge in Skopje, Bridge over  Maritsa in Edirne, Bridges over the Tunca and the Uzunköprü (Long Bridge), which were built on the great Balkan rivers, symbols of abundance and plenitude, have been the subject of poems, shehrengiz and historical poems of classical poets, and also prose works and travel books. through various dreams and imaginations, these bridges are from time to time places where lovers go out for an evening stroll and meet, and sometimes through similes and metaphors compared to lover’s body, rainbow, Milky way, or the Sirat Bridge. These bridges are so ostentatious and appear as a great kemend that connects two mountains.

The stone bridges built on the Balkan rivers from Edirne to Mostar that have poems written about them will be determined and interpreted in our article.