The Roman Bridge
The Bridge in Plandište area (other names: Roman Bridge,
Bridge across the Bosna River at Plandište), with its natural and architectural
features, was made a National Monument of BiH in 2005.
The Bridge in Plandište, or Roman Bridge, is located at
the western entrance to Sarajevo, about two kilometers downstream from the
source of the Bosna River.
It is thought that there was a bridge on this spot even during
the Roman period and that it acquired its current form during the Ottoman
period. The name, "Roman Bridge”, comes from the fact that it was constructed
using Roman spolia,
stone slabs featuring bas-reliefs of nudes.
The bridge is first mentioned in a travel log kept by a Venetian
envoy, Katarino Zeno, who passed through Sarajevo in 1550 and wrote: "…the
Bosna River, which gushes out from below a mountain I don’t know the name of,
is great, and there is a stone bridge with seven arches that passes over it.
From here one can see the river gushing forth from the mountain.”
It isn’t known, exactly, who was responsible for the bridge’s
construction, but it is thought to be one of three Grand Viziers: Rustem Pasha
Hrvat, Semiz Ali Pasha or Gazi Ali Pasha.