Višegrad: The Sokollu Bridge on the Drina

The Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge over the Drina is a grand vizier’s gift to the land of his birth.

Sokollu and Sinan

Sokollu Mehmed Pasha was born in the village of Sokolovići near Višegrad and taken to Istanbul through the devşirme. He served as grand vizier under Suleiman the Magnificent, Selim II and Murad III. For his home region he commissioned a bridge from the chief architect of the age, Mimar Sinan. It was completed in 1577.

With eleven arches and a length of about 180 metres, the bridge is one of Sinan’s most important feats of engineering. It was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2007.

The Bridge on the Drina

The bridge’s fame spread far beyond Bosnia: in 1945 the writer Ivo Andrić published The Bridge on the Drina, a novel about four centuries of life around it. Andrić received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1961.

What to see today

• The “kapija” in the middle of the bridge: a widened terrace for sitting and watching the river, also at the heart of the novel.
• Andrićgrad: a stone town near the bridge that brings the world of the novel to life.