Bridge of Iskandar, vicinity of Termez

Bridge of Iskandar The Bridge of Iskandar is located in the Kumkurgan district of the Surkhandarya province. It is dated from the 16th century. By its structure the bridge is viaduct or aqueduct. It is located on the ancient important trade route linking Termez and southern areas with Chaganian and Giessar.

Bridge of Iskandar According to the legend, it was constructed at the time of Abdullakhan (1557-1598). Local people know it as Gisht-Kupruyk, Tash-Kupruyk or otherwise the Bridge of Iskandar Zulkarnain. The bridge is a one-bay monumental structure being installed over Bandikhan-sai that forms a canyon of 20 meters in width and 9-10 meters in height.

The bridge lays on two bank supports being additionally reinforced by two buttresses of round and rectangular shape to prevent the destroy because of mudflows. The buttress is reinforced with double lancet vault of 3 bricks in thickness. The upper platform of the bridge consists of three functional sections: thoroughfare having two side edging (north-western section), a chute for water (south-western section) and entry platform being inclined. A length of the bridge is 70 meters, a width - 5.75 meters, a height above sai course - 12.1 meters, the vault bay - 5.8 meters. The bridge is built from square brick (25/29x5 cm).

Information and photos from
The multimedia-encyclopedia "TERMEZ-2500"