Varda Viaduct
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Varda Viaduct Varda Köprüsü |
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Varda Viaduct seen from northwest.
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| Coordinates | 37°14′35″N 34°58′37″E / 37.24300°N 34.97684°ECoordinates: 37°14′35″N 34°58′37″E / 37.24300°N 34.97684°E |
| Carries | 1 track of the Konya-Yenice railway |
| Crosses | Çakıt Deresi (formerly: Giaour Dere) |
| Locale | Hacıkırı-Karaisalı, Adana Province, Turkey |
| Other name(s) | Giaour Dere Viaduct |
| Owner | Turkish State Railways (TCDD) |
| Characteristics | |
| Material | Natural stone |
| Total length | 172 m (564 ft) |
| Height | 98 m (322 ft) |
| No. of spans | 11 |
| History | |
| Engineering design by | Philipp Holzmann & Cie, German Empire |
| Construction start | 1905 |
| Construction end | 1916 |
| Inaugurated | 9 October 1918 |
 Varda Viaduct
Location in Turkey
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The Varda Viaduct (Turkish: Varda Köprüsü), aka Giaour Dere Viaduct, locally known as "Alman Köprüsü" or "Koca Köprü" (literally: German Viaduct or Big Viaduct), is a railway viaduct situated at Hacıkırı (Kıralan) village in Karaisalı district of Adana Province in southern Turkey. Designed and built by Imperial German engineers as part of the Baghdad Railway (Haydarpaşa Terminal, Istanbul-Baghdad), the stone arch structure is 63 km (39 mi) from Adana Central Station and 306 km (190 mi) from Konya.
The building of the viaduct was coupled with the construction of the Ottoman-German project of Istanbul-Baghdad railway line to connect Berlin with Basra, then part of the Ottoman Empire, to enable direct supply of oil to German industry.
The most difficult terrain on the route to overcome was the section at the Taurus Mountains between Konya and Adana, more specifically around the region of Belemedik, where in a distance of 12 km (7.5 mi) 22 tunnels in a row had to be dug in twenty years.
Financed by the German Deutsche Bank, the construction of the viaduct was commissioned to Philipp Holzmann & Cie, a renowned German construction company with experience in the field of major infrastructure works. The design and engineering work was carried out by the German Winkler and the Greek-Ottoman Nicholas Mavrogordato, who became responsible chief engineer after the death of Winkler. In 1903, the construction work force, consisting of German technical staff and thousands of multi-national workers, settled in a camp newly established in Belemedik, where all necessary facilities such as hospital, church, school, movie theatre and even mosque were built.
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