Bosphorus Bridge
— — a road from one continent to the next.
Not only on a wall.
“The first of the bridges over the Bosphorus, opened in October 1973 on the fiftieth anniversary of the Turkish Republic. A suspension span of about 1,560 metres joining Ortaköy on the European side to Beylerbeyi on the Asian. Officially renamed the 15 July Martyrs Bridge in 2016. From the studio.
Bosphorus Bridge, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
The bridge crosses the Bosphorus strait in Istanbul, joining the European district of Ortaköy on the west bank to the Asian district of Beylerbeyi on the east. It is a gravity-anchored steel suspension bridge with a main span of about 1,560 metres and towers rising 165 metres above the water. The deck carries six lanes of motor traffic along the O-1 motorway, about 64 metres above the strait at mid-span. The bridge was opened to traffic on 30 October 1973, the day before the fiftieth anniversary of the Republic of Turkey.
Until 1973 there was no road bridge between the two sides of Istanbul; everything crossed by ferry. The bridge was designed by the British firms Freeman Fox & Partners and BRTC, with a profile drawn from the Severn Bridge in Britain. After the events of 15 July 2016, the Turkish government renamed the structure 15 Temmuz Şehitler Köprüsü, the 15 July Martyrs Bridge, in memory of those killed on and near the bridge that night. Two further bridges have since been built across the strait — Fatih Sultan Mehmet in 1988 and Yavuz Sultan Selim in 2016.
Pedestrians are not allowed on the deck. The classic view is from the waterfront at Ortaköy on the European side, with the small baroque Ortaköy Mosque in the foreground and the towers rising behind it — one of the most photographed compositions in Istanbul. The Beylerbeyi Palace on the Asian shore sits directly under the eastern approach. Bosphorus ferry routes from Eminönü pass beneath the span and give the best read of its scale. The bridge is lit at night and changes colour on national holidays and during civic campaigns.