The Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge crosses the Drina River at Višegrad in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. With its long rhythm of stone arches and sharply angled access ramp, it is both the town’s defining landmark and a major work of classical Ottoman civil engineering. The bridge can be appreciated as architecture, infrastructure and a place that has accumulated literary and historical meaning.
The bridge was commissioned by Grand Vizier Mehmed Paša Sokolović and constructed from 1571 to 1577 by the celebrated Ottoman court architect Mimar Koca Sinan. UNESCO records a length of 179.5 metres, eleven masonry arches over the river with spans between 11 and 15 metres, and a four-arch ramp meeting the main crossing at a right angle on the left bank. The unusual bend responds to the riverbank and terrain rather than serving as decoration alone.