Atatürk Bridge

Atatürk Bridge, alternatively known as the Unkapanı Bridge, is a highway bridge on the Golden Horn in Istanbul, Turkey. It is named after Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder and first President of the Republic of Turkey.

It was originally completed in 1836, named Hayratiye Bridge, and connected the quarters of Unkapanı and Azapkapı. The construction of the Hayratiye Bridge was ordered by the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II and supervised by Ahmed Fevzi Pasha, the Deputy Admiral of the Ottoman Fleet, at the Imperial Naval Arsenal (Tersâne-i Âmire) on the Golden Horn. The opening was personally attended by Sultan Mahmud II in 1836, who crossed the bridge on his horse. The original bridge was about 400 metres (1,300 feet) long and 10 metres (33 feet) wide, and was built as a bascule bridge to accommodate the passage of large ships.

In 1875 it was replaced by a second bridge, made of iron and constructed by a French company at the price of 135,000 Ottoman gold liras. It was 480 metres (1,570 feet) long and 18 metres (59 feet) wide, and remained in service between 1875 and 1912, when it was demolished due to reaching the end of its service life.

In 1912, the nearby Third Galata Bridge was disassembled and was reassembled at the site of the demolished Hayratiye Bridge, becoming the third bridge on this site. It was used until 1936, when it was damaged by a storm.

The current (fourth) bridge on this site was constructed between 1936 and 1940, and entered service in 1940 with the name Atatürk Bridge. It is 477 metres (1,565 feet) long and 25 metres (82 feet) wide.

Text imported from Wikipedia article "Atatürk Bridge" and modified on July 23, 2019 according to the CC-BY-SA 4.0 International license.