The most famous examples of bridges in the South Caucasus are the ancient Khudafarin Bridges. The well-known Arab traveler and geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi, who visited these places in the 1213s and 1220s, called the Aras River “a remarkable river.”

Hamawi wrote: “It is said that in Aran, along the Aras, there were a thousand cities.” Although the number of cities here is exaggerated, a network of settlements has been located on both banks of the river since ancient times. He also, referring to another Arab author, wrote: “In the Balasagan steppe, where the Aras River flows out, there are 5,000 abandoned villages, whose surviving walls and buildings still stand to this day. It is said that these settlements belonged to the rulers of the Aras, who were mentioned by Almighty Allah in the Quran.”

Building bridges across the Aras was a natural necessity, considering its densely populated banks. Some information about the construction of bridges over this river, which flows across the entire territory of Azerbaijan from west to east, has been preserved in historical sources.

Among the numerous bridges on the Aras River, the most famous and durable were the Khudafarin Bridges. This is due to the advantageous geographical location of the site where they were built, as well as the necessary natural conditions for ancient bridge construction. These two monumental bridges with 15 and 11 spans testify that the Khudafarin Gorge on the Aras River was the main crossing between Karabakh and Iran.

Thus, located on transcontinental routes, the Khudafarin crossing played an important role in internal and interstate relations. The Khudafarin Bridges were one of the main nodes of the Great Silk Road and gained great international significance. These bridges served as the main route for the migration of various forces and tribes moving from the south to Arran and Karabakh. Sources also note the great military-strategic importance of these bridges. Historical events show that a large number of troops could pass through the Khudafarin Bridges in a short time.

First and foremost, a bridge is an engineering structure. The strength and durability of a bridge in ancient times largely depended on the location of its construction.

In ancient and medieval times, an important condition for bridge construction was the presence of river rocks to support the structure. Support pillars and breakwaters built on strong rocks served as a guarantee of the bridge’s strength, through which masses of people and heavy caravans passed. The presence of large river rocks in the Khudafarin Gorge made this place very favorable for bridge construction.

On the caravan road near modern Khudafarin, there was the most convenient crossing to the northern bank of the Araks. Conquerors of various calibers considered it a bridgehead for invading the South Caucasus, while Karabakh merchants saw it as a road to the wider world. In the Middle Ages and modern times, people traveled along it to Tabriz, Bombay, Damascus, and the European Mediterranean, carrying silks and carpets, grape wines, and mulberry vodka to distant countries.

According to legend, the first bridge at this site was built during the time of Alexander the Great, whose troops invaded the Achaemenid Persia in 334 BC. However, a much later “version” has come down to us, probably from the 7th century during the Arab campaign in the South Caucasus. The bridge was built from river cobblestones. It reached almost 130 meters in length, and its “back” was six meters wide, allowing two chariots to pass freely side by side. Faced with finely hewn limestone slabs, the bridge resembles the monumental structures of Palmyra. Time has not been kind to it — of the eleven spans, only three have survived.

There is very little information about the Khudafarin Bridges in historical sources, as with many other architectural monuments of Azerbaijan. It is clear that the Khudafarin Bridges were laid in the ancient era. There is also a version that the first bridges across this famous river passage were laid during the Urartu period (4th century BC).

The historian Hamdullah Gazvini wrote in the 14th century: “Near Zangilan, across the Aras River, there is the Khuda-Aferin bridge, which was built in the 15th year of the Hijri calendar (636 AD) by Bakr ibn Abdullah, one of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad.”

Thus, the commander Bukayr ibn Abdullah, by order of Caliph Umar, organized a military campaign to Azerbaijan in 643-644 AD. The 19th-century historian A. Bakikhanov described the events of the 22nd year of the Hijri calendar (644 AD) in his work “Gyulustani-Iram” (The Garden of Paradise): “During the conquest of the Mughan region, Bukayr ibn Abdullah built the Khudafarin Bridge across the Aras River.”

Researchers (A. Salamzade, K. Mamedzade), relying on these historical data, assumed that in the 7th century a new bridge was laid or an old one restored for the free movement of Arab troops through the Khudafarin Gorge. The Seljuk historian Sadreddin Ali al-Husayni claimed that Sultan Alp Arslan in 1068, returning from the Tbilisi campaign, crossed the Aras River “without ships and sailors” and reached the village of Laryanis (Lardjan, in the south of the Khudafarin Gorge). However, he did not mention the Khudafarin Bridges.

The second bridge, with fifteen spans, stands about a kilometer downstream, ending at an abandoned village on the northern bank. It closely resembles its counterpart on the Drina River in Bosnia — the very one to which Nobel laureate Ivo Andrić dedicated his novel. Only on the Araks, riverbed rocks were used as bridge supports, sparing the builders the need to erect supports in the water flow. Adapting to the terrain, the spans were made of different sizes, and the structure itself was given some curvature. This beautiful bridge has been fully preserved. Were it not for the border with an unclear status, it would still be in use for crossing in both directions.

Based on all this information and the architectural and structural features of the constructions, some European and Azerbaijani scholars believe that the 15-span Khudafarin Bridge was laid during the peak of the Atabegs’ state in the 12th century.

This ancient monument has suffered damage several times. Serious destruction occurred during the Qajar era — the period of the formation of khanates in northern Azerbaijan. On this matter, historian Bakikhanov wrote: “When Agha Muhammad Khan Qajar wanted to conquer Karabakh in 1795, he restored the Khudafarin Bridge, which had been destroyed by Ibrahim Khan.”

The Iranian historian Mansuri also confirms that the Karabakh Khan Ibrahim Khalil Javanshir destroyed the Khudafarin Bridge to prevent an attack by Agha Muhammad Khan Qajar’s army. The author writes: “The Shah ordered the construction of a new Zovgerli near the Khudafarin Bridge, as well as the restoration of the old one. The Javanshir people could not destroy the supports and only tore down the arches of the bridge. The Shah ordered the bridge to be built using only the highest quality building materials.”

Scholars have wondered: why was a new 11-span bridge built (or rather restored from old remains) alongside the existing 15-span bridge? Its restoration took place in the 13th century — during the Ilkhanid era — and is associated with the movement of huge masses of people at that time. The fact is that the military actions of the Ilkhanid state against the Golden Horde took place on territories located on the northern bank of the Araks, thus creating the need to ferry numerous troops. In addition, remains of the tent city “Aladag” with buildings for the nobility were found in the north. From this, it can be concluded that the Ilkhanids made crossings over the Araks in winter, and within a very short time (2–3 days) they annually had to urgently ferry large masses of people, reaching one hundred thousand; horses, cattle, and much more to the north. Thus, the need arose to restore the old bridge next to the existing 15-span one in the 13th century. The bridges are located 800 meters apart. The 15-span bridge is operational; the second, 11-span bridge is ruined (only three middle spans remain) and is popularly called “synyq körpü” (“broken bridge”).

Besides their stable engineering structure, the Khudafarin Bridges attract with their artistic and aesthetic expression. The skill of the builders turned this utilitarian structure into a monumental architectural work.

A great danger loomed over them in 1990. According to an agreement concluded between the USSR’s design and research association “Hydroproject” and Iran, starting from 1975, two hydroelectric complexes — “Khudafarin” and “Gyz Galasy” — were to be built in the Khudafarin Gorge. Their construction, which began in 1990, threatened not only both Khudafarin Bridges but also the nearest ancient villages and numerous historical and architectural monuments in the Aras valley. This caused a storm of public unrest in the republic at the time.

With the emergence of the Karabakh conflict and the occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenian military forces, the construction project was halted. Despite this being an occupied zone, in 2000 the Iranian government again raised the issue of building hydroelectric complexes but received a firm refusal this time.

Sources:

https://azerhistory.com/?p=18984

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khudafarin_Bridges