Kladovo

Kladovo and Trajan’s Bridge

Kladovo is a port city on the Danube, located at the end of the Iron Gates Canyon. Next to it is the dam that closes the canyon and is one of the largest hydroelectric dams in the world. It is a joint project of Romania and Serbia, “two neighbouring countries that never had war,” as the dedication from the communist era states. Before the dam flooded the canyon, historical finds from the Roman and prehistoric periods (including those from Lepenski Vir) were collected and placed in a beautiful and important museum on the outskirts of the city, on the banks of the river. Outside the city lies an ancient Roman fortress called “Diana’s Fortress.” In the city itself, there is an Ottoman fortress and a harbor.

On the eastern outskirts of the city, the remains of Trajan’s Bridge foundations can be seen, with the base of the first support pillar rising above the water. In the museum in Kladovo, there are models of the bridge and pictures of it as depicted on Trajan’s Column in Rome. On the cliffs bordering the river, half an hour away from Kladovo in a place accessible only by boat, there is a rock engraved with inscriptions called Trajan’s Tablets, commemorating this remarkable engineering feat.

Building a bridge over the Danube was one of the most astonishing engineering projects of ancient times. When Emperor Trajan wanted to conquer Romania, he ordered the legions stationed there to build a bridge over the Danube. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? But the Danube is one of the largest rivers in the world, and its width at this point exceeds a kilometer! To build the bridge, the river—or at least part of it—had to be diverted, and the structure had to be designed to withstand the mighty current.

Apollodorus of Damascus was the designer and architect of the bridge. He also designed Trajan’s Column, Trajan’s Forum in Rome, and the city of Ancona in eastern Italy, but his most significant work was the Pantheon in Rome—the largest dome in the world until the Renaissance, a concrete structure that still stands today.

The Romans were experts in hydraulic (waterproof) concrete, which likely allowed them to build the bridge. It was constructed with large arches supported by massive, wide pillars. The bridge measured 1,135 meters in length and 15 meters in width, enabling the legions to cross the river on their way to conquer Romania.