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Evlija Celebija: Town and the city of Mostar
The great bridge of Mostar
... The bridge looks like the arch of rainbow that rises to Milky Way and it extends from one diff to another. The river flows under the bridge.
... Ah, there it is to be known that I, poor and miserable God’s servant, Evlija, have passed and seen sixteen empires so far, but such a great bridge I haven’t seen yet. It extends from one to another diff that rises up to the sky. The length of that bridge from one gate to another in the interior of two fortresses is one hundred steps paced, and the width is fifteen feet.
It is very strange skill that was shown by Ibrahim-effendi, a scribe of sultan Murad the fourth... In short, that is the bridge under and above which the water flows...
... This bridge was built completely like the arch of rainbow,
Ah, My God, is there anything similar to it in this world.
One connoisseur looked at him with admiration and told him the following verse:
“And we are going over that bridge,
over which the world went, my sultan!”
The year of 974 /1556
The builder, really, did his best and clearly showed his ability. When this bridge is seen from the distance, it looks round like a bow from which the arrow was shot. The elegance and precision of the builder that were put into this wonderful creation of stone, nobody of old builders showed...
(1664)
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