Abstract:

In this article, I study and examine the remains of a great bridge of which traces can be observed for 175 m; as well as the remains of an old caravan route with a stone pavement that can be traced for approximately 220 meters. Both of these are located near the town of Tire, which had been developing since the Medieval Era as one of the trade centers and hub of the Küçük Menderes (Kaystros) Basin and became an important commercial focus and an urbanized developed city through the 16th and 17th centuries. The bridge known as Hussein Aga Bridge in the region and of which only few ruins have survived until today, and the stone-paved road remnants, draw attention to a busy route that linked Tire (which was a center that had not lost its importance for ages) with a developed road system. The road system in question consists of various large and small, main and secondary, military and commercial roads that connect the surrounding settlements, transit arteries passing through the region and the capital Istanbul with each orthers. A restitution drawing of the Hussein Aga Bridge’s displaying the structure before the collapse, has been made by evaluating that three data groups: The results of my researches aimed at shedding light on the historical and cultural connections of the bridge; the observations notes and measurements from my survey on the remains of the bridge; and of course the research on historical texts containing data on it. The details and justifications of this restitution drawing, which was made with the support of a few photographs from the mid 20th century, were explained and discussed. According to the results we have obtained; the Hussein Aga Bridge was built in the last quarter of the 17th century, as a dedication to Hussein Aga, one of a three siblings who are mentioned in the Evliya Çelebi’s travel book as a benevolent feudal lords of the era. It was damaged several times and had been repeatedly repaired up untill the early 20th century, losing its aesthetic and architectural qualities. In its last period, the bridge has a makeshift appearance with some masonry remains combined with various piers and iron decks. With the scratchy condition, it continued to be a busy passage until the last quarter of that century. In its original state, typologically, it is understood that it was a monumental structure consisting of a main span (the largest one) and six large spans, and it was a slightly inclined type in two directions. Main-span and sloping facade silhouette, flood splitters (“cutwaters”) made of triangular prismatical masonry masses with pyramidal cones attached on the both upstream / downstream sides of the piers, small relieving arched spans on the body of the piers, and at the top point of the sloped deck the stone newel-post rising over the balustrade walls, all of these constitute the composition that has relations with the bridge architecture tradition of the Ottoman’s Classical Period that matured and characterized in the capital and its surrounding regions.

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