Altıgöz Bridge (Afyonkarahisar)

Altıgöz Bridge
Coordinates	38°46′11″N 30°32′55″E / 38.76969°N 30.54864°E / 38.76969; 30.54864Coordinates: 38°46′11″N 30°32′55″E / 38.76969°N 30.54864°E / 38.76969; 30.54864
Crosses	Akarçay River
Official name	Altıgöz Köprüsü
Characteristics
Material	Stone arches
Total length	44 m (144 ft)
No. of spans	6
History
Construction start	ca. 1209
Location

The Altıgöz Bridge (in Turkish: Altıgöz Köprüsü) is a stone bridge dating from the Sultanate of Rum period.^[1]

The bridge is located in central western Anatolia, at Afyonkarahisar, close to the city's Çetinkaya railway station. Its Turkish name means "Six arch bridge". The bridge crosses the little Akarçay River.^[2]

According to the İslâm Ansiklopedisi (encyclopedia), information on the bridge comes from an inscription which employs an old Thuluth script, and which is convoluted and hard to read. The inscription identifies an emir called Ebû Vefâ İlyas b. Oğuz, who probably belonged to the Ag Qoyunlu, as responsible for having constructed the bridge before 1209, although the thirteenth-century bridge may not have been the first bridge at this point.^[3] The bridge was probably built using stone from the ancient theater at Prymnessos (the modern-day village of Sülün).^[3]

The six arch bridge is 44 m (144 ft) long. The most recent restoration was performed in 1985. By that time the inscription tablet slab (originally recycled from an ancient marble sarcophagus) had fallen off and been placed in a local museum, but in 1985 the inscription was returned to its position on the bridge.

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