Uzunköprü

The Greek (Greek: Μακρά Γέφυρα, romanized: Makrá Géphura) and Turkish names of the town can both be translated as long bridge.

The history of Uzunköprü goes back to the Neolithic Era (8000–5500). In the field surveys conducted in Maslıdere, situated along the route going to Kırkkavak village to the south, many ware fragments overlaid with ornamental striped and pressed figures have been discovered with designs that have never been encountered in Greece and Bulgaria. Nevertheless, the information about this era is inadequate because the researches haven't been taken further. In addition, the history of the region from these ages to the 15th century BC is still unknown, so the previous claims do not stand.

In 15th century BC the land began to be settled by the Thracians and they had become tho sole owner of the place for a long time. However, after the 7th century BC the Thracian domination came to end by the continuous invasions over the years and got into the hands sequentially of Greeks, Persians, Romans and Byzantines.

Although the region has a very old past, a city had never been able to be built on the area where today's Uzunkopru exists because it'd been covered with vast swamps and dense forests till the Ottomans. That's why, the closest city to today's settlement built in the region is Plotinopolis, established by the Roman Emperor Trajan (AD 53–117) on the banks of the Maritsa River between Uzunkopru and Didymoteicho in Greek Thrace, that was named after Trajan's wife Pompeia Plotina and became a bishopric, suffragan of Adrianople. This ancient city is also called Old Uzunkopru. Eventually, the region was captured from the Byzantine Empire after the Ottoman conquest of Adrianople (which became renamed Edirne) in the 1360s, and only afterwards it could be possible for Uzunkopru city to be established.

Uzunköprü is the first Turkish city established in Rumelia by the Ottoman Empire. It was founded by Great Sultan Murad II in 1427 under the name of Ergene City. The establishment of the city is the result of both the necessity of a settlement place acting as a junction point on the ways connecting the Ottoman capital Edirne to Gallipoli and the Balkans and secondly taking16 years to build the Long Bridge over the Ergene River. Murad II decided to build a stone bridge over the Ergene River when his army couldn't pass the river during a campaign against Gallipoli because of the flood caused by the heavy rain at that time and collapse of the temporary wooden bridges easily. The first 360- arched stone bridge built between 1424 and 1427 wasn't found satisfactory, thereby destructed and rebuilt by Murad II. It is that second bridge existing in the city today. The construction of this second bridge had lasted from 1427 to 1443 and could be finished in 16 years. Due to the long-lasting works, the meeting of the needs of the workers and the soldiers protecting them and the area became indispensably necessary and had to be built a mosque, public kitchen, caravanserai, medrese, hammam and two water mills as facilities besides. Subsequently, families from firstly Edirne and later the Turkoman tribes who had passed onto Rumelia was brought and settled in the region to maintain and develop those facilities, thus it was laid the foundations of the city. This very first settlement called as Cisr-i Ergene (Ergene Bridge) had immediately become the trade route of the merchants carrying goods from Edirne to Gallipoli overland for shipping to Europe, Egypt and Syria, and flourished rapidly. In the beginning of 20th century the small town have mixed population of Turks, Bulgarians, Greeks, Orthodox Albanians, Armenians, Jews, Gypsies etc. In 1913 Turks uprooted 300 Bulgarian families,[3] and till 1922 evicted all Greeks, Orthodox Albanians, Armenians etc.

Uzunköprü remained under Turkish sovereignty uninterruptedly till the 19th century. However, in the following years it had been occupied four times up to the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire: by Russia twice, from 20 August to 20 November 1829 and 21 January 1878 to 13 March 1879; by Bulgaria, from 2 November 1912 to 19 July 1913 and lastly by Greece, from 25 July 1920 to 18 November 1922. In the last occupation the Greeks renamed Uzunköprü Makrifere. The city regained its present name after reconquered by the Turks on 18 November 1922. Eventually, Uzunköprü was left in Turkey in the Lausanne Treaty signed after the Turkish Independence War with the Allied Powers with which the Maritsa River became the border between Turkey and Greece. Today, the date of 18 November is celebrated as Uzunköprü's Independence Day to commemorate the liberation from the Greek occupation.

Ergene River upstream seen from the Uzun köprü (The Long Bridge).

Uzunköprü city is located at the westernmost border of Turkey and in the middle of Edirne province. It is bordered by Greece and Meric town to the west, Tekirdag to the east, Kırklareli to the northeast, Ipsala and Kesan to the South, Edirne city and Havsa to the North. Because it was established on Ergene Plain, almost 75% of the city's territory is made up of low-lying areas that has an elevation of 18 m. Small hills and plateaus scattered especially to the north and the south from place to place form the sole heights encountered in the region. The highest point of the city is Suleymaniye Hill with a 221 m (725 ft) height.

Uzunköprü's weather is under the influence of severe Thracian Transitional Type of the Mediterranean climate which is a mixture of continental and maritime climates. The winds generally blow from the north with medium speed. While summers are hot and near-rainless, winters pass cold and precipitation often takes the form of snow. Most of the rain falls in the spring. Although the city has a semi-humid climate, its flora is steppe. As 70% of the unbuilt area is composed of arable soils that's allocated to cultivation, 20% of the rest is meadows and pastures, and 10% is forests and shrubland. The amount of the forestland has started to increase in the last years in result of the afforestation works.

Uzun köprü (The Long Bridge)

Uzunköprü is the longest historical stone bridge of the world, and gives its name to Uzunköprü town. It was built by head architect Muslihiddin between 1427–1443 to span the Ergene river with the order of Sultan Murad II and brought into use with a ceremony attended by the Sultan himself in 1444. It's been located on a militarily and commercially highly strategic point connecting the capital Edirne to Galipoli and the Western Rumelia.

The bridge was built of binding ashlar blocks brought from the quarries in Yagmurca, Eskikoy and Hasırcıarnavut villages, to each other with Horasan cement. The construction process was supervised firstly by Ghazi Mahmud Bey and after his death by Ishak Bey. Although today its length is 1238.55 m (4063 ft) from the first arch to the last, its original length used to be 1392 m (4566 ft) with extended wings that don't exist today. The reason of why it was built this long was that the region used to be covered with vast swamps in that period. In addition, because the Ergene River causes flood in rainy season, the arches over the river were built high and opened seven bleed ports in them to prevent the bridge from collapse. The wings and arches of the bridge which has 13.56 m (44.48 ft) height, are embellished with several lion, elephant, bird, eagle, tulip and geometric relief motifs.

Because it has been through a lot of flood and earthquake disasters since the construction, the bridge underwent many restorations during the tenures of Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror, Osman II, Mahmud II and Abdulhamid II to repair the damages. In the final restoration made between 1964 and 1971 in the Republic period, its width was increased from 5.24 m (17.19 ft) to 6.80 m (22.3 ft) by widening from the both sides and lost its originality. In addition, the initial arch number of 174 reduced to 172 after one of them collapsed in time and two of them were united as one. However, with a new restoration and rehabilitation work thought to be performed, the bridge was planned to return to its original form and get pedestrianized.

Media related to Uzun köprü at Wikimedia Commons

City Museum (Turkish: Uzunköprü Belediyesi Kent Müzesi)

Uzunköprü City Museum (Turkish: Uzunköprü Belediyesi Kent Müzesi) was opened to service on 16 December 2013 with conversion of the ex-Tekel (Turkish State Liquor and Tobacco Company) building to a museum following its restoration. The museum building, which is a historical structure on its own, was constructed as a private mansion in the beginning of the 20th century, and from 1939 it had started to be used as Tekel storage, outlet and lodge. After the abolition of the Tekel in Uzunköprü in the 1990s, the building was left disused and had almost come to the brink of collapse. It was recovered by making a museum out of it and transformed into a center sheltering the relics the city possesses.

The double-storied museum has six rooms, and each room was turned into chambers, where the artifacts are displayed by classification according to their species. While the historical items are being displayed generally in the three rooms downstairs, the rooms modified as Bride's and Living Rooms and the Coffee Corner upstairs take the visitors to the scenes, where the past is revived.

The Museum is open to visit for free every weekday except Mondays and holidays.

Media related to City Museum of Uzunköprü at Wikimedia Commons

Telli Fountain

The Telli Fountain (Turkish: Telli Çeşme) is a four-sided four-taps stone drinking fountain located in the Telli Square in the center of the city. Taking the ornaments and the design of the fountain in consideration, it is believed that it was built in the Tulip period in beginning of the 18th century. The motifs carved on the stone fountain are curved branches and cypress. There are also relief motifs of Istanbul tulip, which is extinct today. The inscription and the decorations on the fountain were erased during the Greek occupation of Uzunköprü. Only their traces are visible today. The fountain was moved to its current place in 1960.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Uzunköprü.

• Uzunköprü website