Bosphorus Bridge (Boğaz Köprüsü )
Bosphorus Bridge (Boğaz Köprüsü )
The Bosphorus Bridge, also popularly known as the “First Bridge,” due to its being the first bridge to be constructed over the Bosphorus, is a suspension bridge that connects Asia and Europe via a highway between Ortaköy and Beylerbeyi. The idea of connecting the continents of Asia and Europe with a bridge and enabling an easy journey between the opposite shores has been on the agenda throughout history. As a matter of fact, the story of the construction of the first bridge over the Bosphorus is to some extent mythical. According to Herodotus, known as the father of history, the renowned Persian emperor Darius I had his army pass over the Bosphorus towards Thrace using a floating bridge that had been constructed by Mandrokles of Samos when the latter marched against the Scythians in the first quarter of the sixth century B.C. Mandrokles is believed to have built this bridge by lining and bonding large rafts and boats next to one another. It is known that at this time, this kind of bridge was often used to transfer soldiers to the opposing shore; these bridges were also used during the early period of the Ottoman Empire.
It is known that the idea of building real and permanent bridges over both the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus was brought onto the agenda from time to time. As a matter of fact, it is narrated that the Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo wanted to build a bridge over the Golden Horn and that Leonardo da Vinci sent a letter to Bayezid II suggesting the construction of a bridge over the Golden Horn or Bosphorus around 1502. After a long time, at the end of the nineteenth century, the idea of connecting the two shores of Bosphorus via a bridge or submerged tunnel came onto the agenda again. S. Preault, a French railway engineer, designed a project regarding the construction of a submerged tunnel between Sarayburnu and Üsküdar (Salacak) in 1891. This project, known as the “Submerged Steel Tunnel,” aimed to create railway transportation via a submerged tunnel. However, the project was abandoned at the drawing phase since it required robust construction technology and funding. Soon after, Uluslararası Boğaz Demiryolu Şirketi (International Bosphorus Railway Company) proposed to build a ring highway encircling Istanbul, with two bridges connecting Asia and Europe.
This proposal was put forward by the French engineer and industrialist Ferdinand Arnodin and presented to Abdülhamid II in March 1900. The main purpose of this project was to build a railway system that connected the two continents. To achieve this aim, it was proposed to construct two bridges over the Bosphorus, one between Sarayburnu and Üsküdar and one between Rumelihisarı and Kandilli.
According to this plan, the railway system which ended at Haydarpaşa, stretched from Üsküdar to the European shore; a bridge would be built in this region to connect the railway system on the two shores. The project also envisaged the integration of two regions that had recently become prominent; Bostancı, on the Haydarpaşa-İzmit line and Bakırköy on the Istanbul-Edirne line; this was to be done with another bridge built between Rumelihisarı and Kandilli. Thus, uninterrupted transportation between important hubs of the city, such as the Istanbul Historical Peninsula, Galata, Üsküdar and the villages along the Bosphorus could be realized. Another striking element of this project is that Arnodin was able to foresee the future development of Istanbul; he prepared important plans to this end. Nevertheless, Arnodin’s project was not adopted by the Palace.