Kozhevnikov Bridge or Tanner's Bridge ( Alb. Ura e Tabakëve ) is a stone pedestrian bridge built in the 18th century by the Ottoman authorities in Tirana and located near the Kozhevnikov Mosque . Previously, the bridge was part of the St. George road ( Alb. Rruga e Shëngjergjit ), which connected Tirana with the eastern highlands and along which caravans with goods went to the city. The bridge crossed the Rana River near the area where there were tanneries. In the 1930s, after they turned the movement of the Lana River, nobody needed the bridge. In the 1990s, it was restored as a pedestrian bridge.
| Tanner's Bridge | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Official name | Alb. Ura e Tabakëve |
| Application area | pedestrian |
| Crosses | Lana |
| Location | , and |
| Design | |
| Material | a rock |
| Number of flights | 3 |
| total length | 8 |
| Bridge width | 2.5 |
| Construction height | 3,5 |
| Construction completion | XVIII century |
History
The Kozhevnikov bridge was part of the road connecting Tirana with Shenggery [1] . The road from Tirana to Debar passed along this bridge through the towns of Prisca e Madhe , Cafe-Prisca, House , Shenggery, then through Bizet Martanesh , Zerkyan and finally led to Debar [1] . On this road, peasants delivered goods to the city, and next to it there were butcher shops and tanneries workshops belonging to specific families (Dzheleti, Kuka, etc.), over which the bridge got its name - the tanner and the butcher were then considered one and the same the same profession was called “tabakë” [1] .
Until the 1930s, the bridge was quietly used for traffic until the direction of the Lana River flow was drawn [1] . The bridge fell into disrepair, but in the 1990s it was cleaned and restored, making it a pedestrian. In 2007, one of the engineers of the Ethnography in Motion project told the Albanian Telegraph Agency (Agjencia Telegrafike Shqiptare) that they had managed to complete underground restoration work under the bridge [2] : an artificial pond was created on both sides of the bridge, and they were also cleaned from mud and silt bridge supports [2] . Within the framework of this project, work was carried out to preserve the cultural objects of Albania, including the reconstruction of the bazaar on the territory from the Kozhevnikov bridge to the square where the Albanian flag was hoisted on November 26, 1912 [2] . The bridge is considered by the authorities of Tirana one of the most important cultural monuments of the city and evidence of urban development in the XVIII century, as well as a model of Ottoman engineering [1] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Ura e Tabakëve . Tirana municipality.
- ↑ 1 2 3 TanMedia "Ura e Tabakeve" rikthehet ne identitet (Alb.) . Tan portal (August 23, 2007). Date of treatment September 9, 2010.