Ten-Eyed Bridge: Diyarbakır’s Marwanid Crossing of the Tigris

On this page

1. What is the Ten-Eyed Bridge?
2. How do you get to the Ten-Eyed Bridge?
3. When is the best time to visit the Ten-Eyed Bridge?
4. What is the history of the Ten-Eyed Bridge?
5. What is the Ten-Eyed Bridge famous for?
6. What can you see at the Ten-Eyed Bridge?
7. Frequently asked questions about the Ten-Eyed Bridge
8. What do the official records say about the Ten-Eyed Bridge?

What is the Ten-Eyed Bridge?

The Ten-Eyed Bridge (On Gözlü Köprü) carries the old road south from Diyarbakır across the Tigris. Its ten arches, the “eyes” of its Turkish name, are built of cut basalt, and it is about 178 m long and 5.6 m wide. Locals also call it the Dicle Bridge, after the Turkish name of the Tigris, or the Silvan Bridge, after the road it served.

The bridge is one of the attributes of the UNESCO World Heritage property “Diyarbakır Fortress and Hevsel Gardens Cultural Landscape”. It has been closed to motor traffic since 2009, which makes it a pleasant place to walk, and its riverbanks are where people from Diyarbakır go on summer evenings.

How do you get to the Ten-Eyed Bridge?

The bridge lies about 3 km south of the city, outside Mardin Kapı, according to the provincial culture and tourism directorate. A taxi from Sur takes around ten minutes. You can also walk: leave the walls at Mardin Kapı and follow the road downhill, or take a path through the Hevsel Gardens below the eastern walls. Allow about 40 minutes on foot, and more on the way back, which is uphill.

A newer road bridge, opened about 1 km downstream in 2009, now carries the traffic.

Book a Ten-Eyed Bridge tour

−5% Istambul readers save 5% on every tour below — applied at checkout.

See all tours

Partner listings via GetYourGuide · free cancellation on most

When is the best time to visit the Ten-Eyed Bridge?

Late afternoon and early evening, when the low sun lights the basalt and families come down to the river. In spring the Tigris is high and the Hevsel Gardens are green; in late summer the river drops and you can see more of the piers. Midday in July and August is very hot, with little shade on the bridge itself.

What is the history of the Ten-Eyed Bridge?

An inscription shows that the standing structure was built in 1065, during the rule of the Marwanids, a Kurdish dynasty that governed Diyarbakır from 983 to 1085. It names the patrons, Nizam al-Din and Mu’ayyid al-Dawla, and the architect, Yusuf son of Ubeyd. The bridge carried the road from Diyarbakır towards Mardin and Silvan, connecting the walled city with routes to Mesopotamia.

The bridge remained in use by vehicles until November 2009, when traffic moved to the new Marwanids Bridge downstream. In 2015 it became part of the World Heritage property together with the walls and the Hevsel Gardens.

What is the Ten-Eyed Bridge famous for?

• Ten arches. The longest span is 14.70 m.
• Its inscription. A dated Marwanid building text that names both the patrons and the architect.
• The setting. From the bridge you see the Hevsel Gardens and the walls of Diyarbakır on the ridge above.
• Evenings by the river. Tea gardens and picnic spots line the banks in summer.

What can you see at the Ten-Eyed Bridge?

The bridge. Walk across and look back at the arches from the riverbank. The basalt piers have pointed cutwaters upstream to break the current.

The Hevsel Gardens. Between the bridge and the city walls lie the Hevsel Gardens, which UNESCO describes as a green link between the city and the Tigris that has long supplied Diyarbakır with food and water. Footpaths run between the plots, and in spring and summer you will see vegetables, fruit trees and poplars.

The Marwanid inscription. The dated building text records the patrons and the architect. It is one of the few surviving monuments of the Marwanid century, when Diyarbakır was the capital of a dynasty that ruled the upper Tigris for about a hundred years before the Seljuk conquest of 1085.

The walls from below. From the bridge and the gardens you see how the city walls sit on the edge of the basalt plateau, with İçkale at the northeast corner.

Frequently asked questions about the Ten-Eyed Bridge

What do the official records say about the Ten-Eyed Bridge?

The 2002 inventory does not describe the bridge separately; its account of the city’s trade explains why a crossing here mattered. Because Diyarbakır was one of the centres of the historic Silk Road, it has important hans. In the Deliller Han, the Hasan Paşa Han, the Çifte Han and the Yeni Han there are shops selling carpets, kilims and silverwork today, as there were in the past.

The Cheese and Yoghurt Bazaar, where every kind of cheese and yoghurt is sold, and the Sipahi Bazaar, where many traditional goods such as felt and wooden clogs are made and sold, are bazaars worth visiting. (Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Diyarbakır Provincial Tourism Inventory, 2002)