Si-o-se-pol Bridge

The longest of Isfahan's bridges — about three hundred metres and thirty-three arches, which is where the name comes from: si-o-se means "thirty-three" in Persian. It was built in 1602 by order of Shah Abbas I, and the work was directed by the military commander Allahverdi Khan, whose name the bridge also bears. The structure solves several tasks at once: it links the royal avenue of Chaharbagh with the Armenian quarter of New Julfa, holds back water for irrigation and serves as a place to walk. The upper tier is taken up by two rows of arched galleries, so you can walk either along the open middle or through the covered side passages. The lower level comes down to the water itself with platforms where people sit and talk, and the acoustics under the vaults are such that in the evenings people come here to sing. The Zayandeh Rud river has been drying up for long stretches in recent years, and often all that is left under the arches is a dry stone bed; this, however, has almost no effect on the quality of the evening gatherings.

On the map