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Roman Bridge near Ustikolina: Permanent witness of past times

The Roman bridge near Ustikoline, at the mouth of the Gabeoski stream in the Drina River, has been on the list of national monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2005. The bridge in Kozetina was built on steep terrain and its present length is about ten meters. It was built of blocks of broken stone of different dimensions.

The upper, walking surface of the bridge is almost horizontal. While the traces of lime mortar used as a binding material in the bridge during its construction are noticeable, the side walls look like stone blocks are lined without anything that would bund them.

This is unlikely and it is assumed that the reason for this appearance of the sidewalls is their long-standing exposure to unfavorable atmospheric influences, that is, the rain that has washed out lime over time.

It used to be part of the Via Drinae road that linked these parts to the Adriatic Sea. According to the way the bridge was made, the construction material and the binder used, and the rusticity that the bridge possesses presume that it has been built in the Middle Ages.

Nevertheless, the folk tradition in this case is not rejected, and the age of the road on which the bridge was built, which led from Foca and crossed the stream at its entrance to the Drina at this site, is estimated to be about 2,000 years old.

The bridge has no decorations, inscriptions, fences, nor has the elements based on which it would be possible to determine the possible reconstruction of the earlier appearance. It is not excluded that due to the small span of the bridge, the fence was once wooden with pillars on the shores.

The width of the bridge is 3.30 meters, and the range of an arch is 5.50 meters. The bridge is preserved in its original form, but it can only be used by pedestrians because of its poor condition.

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