Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
1st International Conference on Protection of Historical Buildings (PROHITECH 09), Rome, İtalya, 21 - 24 Haziran 2009, ss.241-245
Anatolia (Turkey) is one of the oldest settlements all over the world due to the geographical location. Thus, it has accommodated innumerable historical structures remain from the past civilizations. Stone arch bridges are one of the most invaluable historical structures between them. Transportation and trading were among the important reasons for people to built arch bridges on the rivers. They were built with stone before iron, steel or concrete bridges were introduced and most of them are still in strong condition. There are so many stone arch bridges of different periods, which are protected by the state and have the status of "Cultural Heritage". The Cender Suyu Bridge, Karamagara Bridge and the Justinianus Bridge are the examples of Roman bridges in Turkey. The perfect workmanship in the construction of the cut stones put the beauty of the Seljuk Bridges forward; however, the best examples of bridge architecture in Turkey are the works constructed in the 16th century of Master Builder Sinan who constructed 11 bridges. However, many arch bridges have been frequently damaged or collapsed due to the natural disasters, time effects and also manmade damages. In this paper, it is aimed to present the general characteristics of historical stone arch bridges located in the East Blacksea Region of Turkey. Besides, some deterioration in the construction materials, damages and failure patterns are classified into main groups and discussed with some illustrative photos. Some traditional repairing techniques and their practices are described with detailed information and illustrative photos.