Visegrad Bridge among new sites inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List
29.06. 2007
The World Heritage Committee on Thursday evening inscribed another five sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List: Mehmed Pasa Sokolovic Bridge of Visegrad (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Rideau Canal (Canada), Bordeaux, Port of the Moon (France), and the Old Town of Corfu (Greece), and Lavaux, vineyard terraces (Switzerland).
The Mehmed Pasa Sokolovic Bridge of Visegrad across the Drina River in the east of Bosnia and Herzegovina was built at the end of the 16th century by the court architect Sinan on the order of the Grand Vizier Mehmed Pasa Sokolovic. It is characteristic of the apogee of Ottoman monumental architecture and civil engineering. It numbers 11 masonry arches, with spans of 11 to 15 metres, and an access ramp at right angles with four arches on the left bank of the river. The 179.50m long bridge is a representative masterpiece of Mimar Koca Sinan, one of the greatest architects and engineers of the classical Ottoman period and a contemporary of the Italian Renaissance, with which his work can be compared. The unique elegance of proportion and monumental nobility of the property as a whole bear witness to the greatness of this style in architecture.