Cendere Bridge

The Cendere bridge was built around the year 200 by the Sixteenth Legion and the cities of Commagene, and it carries a single arch of roughly thirty metres across a gorge on the old road north - a span that was among the longest of its kind in the Roman world and which is still standing, unrepaired in any fundamental way, nearly two thousand years later. Four columns stood at the ends, two at each side, dedicated to the emperor Septimius Severus, his wife Julia Domna and their sons; three remain, the fourth having been removed in antiquity. It carried motor traffic until a modern bridge was built alongside, and it is now open to pedestrians. It sits directly on the road between Kâhta and Nemrut Dağı, so almost everyone visiting the mountain passes it, and it takes twenty minutes. The stone is warm-coloured, the gorge below is dry most of the year, and the setting is bare hill country.

What you actually see

• The single arch - the thirty-metre Roman span.
• The three columns - the surviving dedications at the ends.
• The gorge - the Cendere stream below.
• The road setting - the bridge on the route to Nemrut.

When to go

April to June and September to October. Any time of day; it is a short roadside stop, usually combined with the Nemrut trip.

Honest expectations

It is a twenty-minute stop with no facilities beyond a couple of stalls. There is no interpretation. The area is hot and bare in summer.

Nearby

Karakuş tumulus and Arsameia are on the same road; Nemrut Dağı is beyond them.