Malabadi Bridge: An Artukid Medieval Stone-Arch Bridge in Türkiye
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.6
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- Turkey
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Unclassified
- Site type
- Infrastructure
- Remains
- Bridge
On this page8 sections
History
Malabadi Bridge is a medieval stone-arch bridge in Türkiye, crossing the Batman River near Silvan during the Artukid period, with construction beginning in 1146–1147 and probably reaching completion around 1154. The Artukids were a medieval Turkmen dynasty that ruled parts of southeastern Anatolia and Upper Mesopotamia. The bridge served the historic road between Diyarbakir and Batman, carrying caravans and other travelers across the river.
Artukid Construction
Husam al-Din Temur-Tash of Mardin commissioned and financed the bridge. He ruled Mayafaraqin and Mardin and was the son of Ilgazi and grandson of Artuk Bey. The new crossing probably replaced an earlier bridge built in 668–669 and destroyed by a flood in 1144. The twelfth-century local historian Ibn al-Azraq al-Fariqi identified that earlier structure as either the Qaramān or Aqramān Bridge. Inconsistencies between surviving manuscripts make the identification uncertain, although the geographical and historical descriptions support a connection with the predecessor of Malabadi Bridge.
Al-Zahid bin al-Tawil supervised the initial work. After flooding damaged the eastern foundation, he was punished for defective workmanship and replaced by Amir Saif al-Din Shirbarik Maudud bin Ali, also identified as bin Alp-Yaruq bin Artuq. Shirbarik restarted construction under Abu’l-Khair bin al-Hakim al-Fasul, who incorporated massive wooden beams into the work. By 1153, the bridge was nearly complete, but its principal arch remained unfinished when Temur-Tash died on 18 January 1154.
Temur-Tash’s successor, Najm al-Din Alpi, brought the project to completion after further flooding interrupted the work. He repaired the damaged structure and completed the joining of the main arch. The bridge was restored at the end of the twelfth century, again near the beginning of the twentieth century, and by Silvan Municipality in 1989.
Names and Later Use
The bridge is also called Akarman Bridge, while medieval Turkish sources used the name Karaman Bridge. Malabadi later became the prevailing local name. It is explained as referring in Kurdish to the house or property of Bad, who is identified with the founder of the Marwanid dynasty.
Malabadi Bridge was historically the only crossing over the Batman River in the area. Its rooms sheltered bridge guards, who monitored movement and collected tolls, while caravans and other travelers used the crossing as part of the route between Diyarbakir and Batman. The bridge remained in continuous use until the 1950s, when a new road bridge was built upstream. In 2016, Malabadi Bridge was added to Türkiye’s tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage sites, a national list of places being considered for future nomination rather than inscription on the World Heritage List.
In 1932, the architectural historian Albert Gabriel and the epigrapher Jean Sauvaget visited the bridge. Sauvaget, a specialist in inscriptions, identified an inscription bearing Temur-Tash’s name and dated 1147–1148. The inscription may mark the beginning of the second construction phase under Shirbarik.
Remains
Layout and Construction
Malabadi Bridge is approximately 150 metres long, 7 metres wide, and 19 metres high from the low-water level to the keystone. Its principal arch spans 38.6 metres and rises above the deepest part of the Batman River. The bridge crosses the river at a right angle, while the roadway and its approaches meet the river obliquely, creating angular bends on both the eastern and western sides.
The roadway climbs gradually from ground level toward the central arch. Three sections of unequal length connect the crossing to the roads through slight inclines, while the central section forms a mass founded on bedrock. The masonry uses uniformly coloured stones. Smaller openings in the approach sections carry floodwater beneath the rising roadway, and the bridge has five openings in total, including pointed arches and an approximately 3-metre-wide basket-handle arch. A pointed arch rises to an angular apex, while a basket-handle arch has a flatter, smoothly curved profile.
Principal Arch and River Piers
Two piers stand in the river and support the main structure. The western pier carries two sculptures, one showing a standing figure and the other a seated figure. The tall, pointed principal arch dominates the crossing and occupies the central span over the river’s deepest channel. A masonry gate approximately 5 metres wide stood at the centre of this arch to control passage, with another gate on each side. The gate on the Batman side survives, while the other has been destroyed.
Vaulted Rooms and Toll Facilities
Vaulted rooms on both sides of the principal arch measure approximately 4.5–5.3 metres. They provided shelter for caravans and travelers, particularly in winter, and also served the guards who watched the crossing. Their high brick-covered ceilings and large windows remain part of the bridge’s built arrangement. Stairways beside the gates lead down to these rooms, and two toll booths stood on the roadway beside the principal arch. Traditional accounts held that the rooms and connected passageways enabled guards to hear approaching caravans by their footsteps.
Historical Descriptions and Later Alterations
The seventeenth-century Ottoman traveler Evliya Celebi described iron gates at both ends of the bridge, additional rooms beneath and beside the arch, projecting window structures, and elaborate lattice railings. He said that the railings were made of Nakhchivan steel and that some rooms were used for shelter, conversation, and fishing. His Seyahatname, a travel work describing places and monuments across the Ottoman world, preserves this later account of the bridge’s appearance and use.
The bridge has survived through numerous repairs and restorations. A newer road bridge built upstream in the 1950s, identified as dating from 1955, now carries the later road crossing while Malabadi Bridge remains the medieval structure associated with the historic route.
