Kesik Köprü: A Seljuk Bridge near Sivas
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.3
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Turkey
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Seljuk
- Site type
- Infrastructure
- Remains
- Bridge
On this page5 sections
History
Kesik Köprü is a medieval bridge in Türkiye, near Sivas, built in 1213 during the Anatolian Seljuk period, when a Turkic Muslim state ruled much of Anatolia before the rise of the Ottoman state. It carried the old Kayseri road across the Kızılırmak and was built by Yavaş Arslan, a sipahsalar, or senior military commander in the Seljuk hierarchy.
Seljuk construction and early name
The bridge was formerly called Gürcü Hüseyin Köprüsü. The 1574 Sivas tax and charitable-foundation registers name it “Cisr-i Gürcü Hüseyin,” meaning Gürcü Hüseyin Bridge. Those records identify Yavaş Arslan as a Christian Georgian who later converted to Islam and adopted the name Hüseyin. They also mention his children, Giorgi, Sinbat, and Şid. The name Kesik Köprü came into use during the nineteenth century.
Repairs and associated buildings
A ribat, a fortified religious or charitable establishment often connected with travelers and frontier life, and a kümbet, a monumental domed tomb, once stood immediately beside the bridge. After the bridge deteriorated, it was repaired in 1875 and underwent another repair at the beginning of the twentieth century. Stones from the ruined Şahna Kümbeti were used in this later work.
Remains
Bridge structure
Kesik Köprü extends for 326.35 metres and is 4.85 metres wide. Its masonry is entirely ashlar, made from carefully shaped stone blocks. The bridge is divided into two sections joined by an earth-filled roadway. The first section contains 17 openings with both round and pointed arches. A second section, approximately 10 metres long, has two round-arched openings. Water no longer flows beneath this second section, but it remains in use because it continues the first. Across the bridge’s 19 openings, the largest span measures 7.90 metres. The structure is currently used by pedestrians.
