Tanners' Bridge

The Ura e Tabakeve ( Gerber bridge ) is an Ottoman stone arch bridge in the Albanian capital Tirana and one of the most important historical monuments of the city. Probably built in the 18th century bridge crossed until the 1930s the city river Lana.

The Ura e Tabakeve is eight meters long and consists of three arches. Its width is 2.5 meters. Built out of river stones bridge has a height of 3.5 meters at the central arch.

Formerly located at the southeast edge of town, it is now located in the city center, a few hundred meters east of the central Bulevardi Deshmoret e Kombit. It is used only by pedestrians and crosses only an artificial pond.

History

The Ura e Tabakeve was part of a trade route that linked the south of Tirana DAJTI about Shëngjergj (in the east of the county Tirana, therefore Strait of Shëngjergj called ) with Dibra. For the inhabitants of the highlands east of the city it was of great economic importance. In that case the farmers and ranchers transporting their products and animals in order to sell them in Tirana. The job of a butcher or a tanner was particularly common among the families of Xheleti and Kuka. They were called as the area beyond the bridge tobaccos, which includes the occupations of the butcher, Hautabziehers, knacker and tanner.

Up to the 1930s, after more bridges were built in close proximity to the arch bridge was one of the most important compounds of the Lana. Since then, the river flows further south past the bridge. In the 1950s, a road was built along the Lana on a dam that henceforth the bridge from the straightened river parted and almost at the same high level is as the bridge vertices. The river has since been almost parallel to the running east -west bridge, which was built in a loop of the river and had the eastern bridgehead on the south bank.

During the communist dictatorship, the bridge was neglected - only the top part sticking out of the pavement surrounding it. Eventually, the site was used as a landfill. In 2004 it was restored and excavated the area immediately around the bridge back to original level.