A small valley in Greece and its bridges throughout the centuries

摘要

This paper refers to the bridges of the Pyli valley. The most important bridge is the stone one of St. Bessario. The single-arched bridge of St. Bessario, with an arch span of 28.73m and total length of 68m, was built in the 16th century and until 1936 it was the only link between the Thessaly fields and the mountainous villages of Pindos. In the 20th century (up to 1997), at a distance of approximately 1500m around the stone bridge, four concrete bridges which differ in size, architectural style, structural technique and use (vehicular or pedestrian crossing) have been constructed over the Portaikos river in order to serve increased modern transportation needs in the region; the oldest of them, finished in 1936 lies at the west of the stone bridge at a distance of 1000m and has a length of 45m, while the following structures at the east of the ancient bridge, where the Portaikos river is broader, reach a length up to 170m; among these reinforced or prestressed concrete bridges, a suspension one, with a length of 120m, was constructed in 1981 very close to the Byzantine church of Porta Panagia (13th century) and it is used only for pedestrian crossing. A brief description of the bridges, their present state, the necessary works for their repair, historical data as well as photographic documentation are included in the paper.