Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.22586/ss.25.1.1
Mursa and its Bridge between Myth and Reality
Igor Vukmanić
Abstract
Above the six pentagonal stone bases of the Roman bridge spanning the 150 m wide riverbed of the Drava River between Podravlje and Osijek (Mursa) in Croatia, several structural parts of the bridge have been determined. These are, from substructure to superstructure, two groups of wooden piles with ends reinforced by iron spikes, the partial arrangement of which (in the Drava River) was documented near Podravlje. These piles, driven vertically through the caissons and piers, the cores of which were made up of crushed stone and brick products, were also found in the infill of the bridge’s breakwater. The faces were clad in stone blocks, while the tops of such supports, most likely brick-paved, carried a wooden arched structure, a roadway and a railing. This is indicated by a wooden beam found at the site of one of the pillars, as well the fact that key construction elements of stone arches, such as voussoirs and keystones, or similarly shaped, carved blocks of similar dimensions, from the profile of those arches, are missing. As the bridge was a composite structure, it resembled Roman bridges in Kostol, Trier and Newcastle. However, in contrast to these bridges, the spans between the pillars and the height of the wooden superstructure of the structure in Osijek are not uniform. The span between the bridge pillars at Mursa was between 23 and 25 meters in the central part of the river (II-V) and between 9 and 13 meters near the banks of the Drava (I-II, V-VI). The two central stone pillars were the highest, while those closer to the banks were lower. The shallow parts between the latter pillars show that navigation was only possible between the supports marked II and III, III and IV, and IV and V.
The common opinion is that the Mursa bridge was restored in the 3rd or 4th century, with the use of repurposed Roman monuments from the 2nd century. However, potential original (inscription about the renovation from the first third of the 3rd century) or decorative parts (pedestals, statues) and certain spolia (stelae, sarcophagus chests, altars, aediculae) could have been deposited in the Drava riverbed in front of the construction’s supports, either to protect them, slow down the river flow, prevent ice buildup, or they may have been thrown from the bridge due to religious turmoil or to serve as a barrier against the expected invasions of groups of foreign people in the second half of the 4th century.
Keywords
Roman Empire; Pannonia; Limes; Mursa; Drava river; bridge
Hrčak ID:
339728
URI
Publication date:
25.11.2025.
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