page_title: Bridge near Limyra
section_title: Field examinations
hierarchical_section_title: Bridge near Limyra / Field examinations
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Die römische Brücke bei Limyra in Lykien in der Türkei. Blick über die Brücke nach Osten. Der in der Spätantike errichtete Ingenieurbau ist eine der ältesten Segmentbogenbrücken der Welt. Auf einer Länge von 360 m überspannen insgesamt 28 Bögen den Fluss Alakır Çayı, darunter 26 Segmentbögen mit einer durchschnittlichen Überhöhung von 5,3 zu 1. Die Brücke ist heute bis zu den Bogenansätzen von Flussablagerungen verschüttet. English: The Roman Bridge near Limyra, Lycia, Turkey. View over the bridge to the east. The late antique structure is one of the oldest segmental arch bridges in the world. The 360 m long bridge crosses on 28 arches the Alakır Çayı, 26 of which being segmental arches with an average span to rise ratio of 5.3 to 1. Today, the structure is buried up to the vaults by river sedimentation. Ελληνικά: η γέφυρα των Λιμύρων στη Λυκία (σημερινή Τουρκία), μια από τις παλαιότερες γέφυρες με καταβιβασμένα τόξα στον κόσμο Español: El Puente romano de Limyra en Licia (Turquía), uno de los puentes de bóvedas escarzanas mas antiguos del mundo Français&#160;: Le Pont romain de Limyra à Lycie (Turquie), un des plus vieux ponts en arc surbaissé dans le monde Italiano: Il Ponte romano di Limira in Licia, Turchia, uno dei più antichi ponti ad arco ribassato del mondo Nederlands: De Romeinse Brug bij Limyra in Lycië in Turkije: een van de oudste bruggen ter wereld met segmentbogen Polski: Most rzymski Limyra w Licji w Turcji, jeden z najstarszych mostów łukiem odcinkowym na świecie Русский: Римский мост Кирк Гёз Кемери около Лимиры в Ликии, Турция. Он один из старейших сегментных арочных мостов мира. Türkçe: Roma döneminden kalma ve Likya kenti olan Limyra yakınlarında bulunan Kırkgöz Kemeri. Dünyadaki en eski segment kemerli köprülerden biri. 中文: 古罗马的利米拉桥, 土耳其, 世界上最古老的坦弧圆拱桥之一
context_page_description: The Bridge near Limyra is a late Roman bridge in Lycia, in modern south-west Turkey, and one of the oldest segmented arch bridges in the world. Located near the ancient city of Limyra, it is the largest civil engineering structure of antiquity in the region, spanning the Alakır Çayı river over a length of 360 m on 26 segmental arches. These arches, with a span-to-rise ratio of 5.3:1, give the bridge an unusually flat profile, and were unsurpassed as an architectural achievement until the late Middle Ages. Today, the structure is largely buried by river sediments and surrounded by greenhouses. Despite its unique features, the bridge remains relatively unknown, and only in the 1970s did researchers from the Istanbul branch of the German Archaeological Institute carry out field examinations on the site.
context_section_description: No information on the bridge survives from ancient sources. The first descriptions appear in European travellers' accounts from the 19th century. The British archaeologist Charles Fellows was the first to explore the region of Lycia, and visited the bridge in May 1840. Fellows, as well as T.A.B. Spratt and Edward Forbes, who visited the site two years later, describe it as having 25 arches. In 1882, an Austrian expedition, including Otto Benndorf, interpreted the structure as part of an ancient road that connected Limyra with the city of Attaleia (modern Antalya) to the east. However, this mission failed to produce any plans or sketches of the site.
  The first, and as of 2008 only scientific examination of the bridge was undertaken by the German archaeologists Wolfgang W. Wurster and Joachim Ganzert in two successive days in September 1973, and completed through further visits in subsequent years. Their findings were published in 1978 in the Archäologischer Anzeiger journal of the German Archaeological Institute, with the express intent of bringing the imperiled state of the hitherto almost intact bridge into the spotlight:
  Recently, citrus fruit plantations were created in this fertile bottomland; greenhouses for early vegetables are now being built east of the bridge. The bridge is greatly endangered through the beginning of intensive cultivation in the vicinity. The locals strip the still intact bridge surface for stones; bulldozers employed to build irrigation canals rip the structure apart and crush the stone pavement with their caterpillar tracks.
    
  In 1993, the civil engineer Colin O'Connor summarized their report in his English-language monograph on Roman bridges, and also emphasized the exceptional character of this bridge. No further scientific examinations of the Limyra Bridge are known.
caption: Ancient paving stones. View to the east, along the greenhouses
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