Višegrad & the bridge on the Drina: the back story

About Višegrad & the bridge on the Drina: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Sarajevo Editorial Team

Few bridges are as famous in literature as the one at Višegrad. Built by the grand vizier Mehmed Paša Sokolović in the 16th century, it is the hero of Ivo Andrić’s novel The Bridge on the Drina, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The vizier’s bridge

Mehmed Paša Sokolović, born in a nearby village, rose to become grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire, and in 1571–77 had this bridge built across the Drina by the great architect Mimar Sinan. Its eleven arches stretch about 180 metres. It was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2007.

Andrić’s novel

The Bridge on the Drina (1945) by Ivo Andrić follows the town of Višegrad and its people across four centuries, with the bridge at the centre. Andrić received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1961.

The bridge outlives everyone in Andrić’s novel. It is still there.

Andrićgrad

Next to the bridge, Andrićgrad, also called Kamengrad, is a small stone town built in the 2010s by the film director Emir Kusturica in honour of Andrić, with a cinema, shops, cafés and an Andrić institute.

Visiting

Višegrad is about two and a half to three hours from Sarajevo by road, in the east of the country. The Šargan Eight heritage railway at Mokra Gora is just across the border in Serbia.

Our advice: read the novel before you go, walk the bridge at the end of the day when the stone glows, and stay for dinner by the river. If you are driving on to Serbia, combine it with the Šargan Eight railway.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Višegrad & the bridge on the Drina: the back story before you go.