Qualla: Alwand Bridge https://qualla.com/alwand-bridge en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:31 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/t/n/0/7/alwand-bridge-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Alwand Bridge https://qualla.com/alwand-bridge Alwand Bridge: Introduction https://qualla.com/alwand-bridge/ Photo credit احمد ارتيمتي, CC BY-SA 4.0. The people of Khanaqin call it Kopri -- from the old Aryan words for arched road. The bridge sits in the center of their city, spanning the Alwand River (which locals still call Alwan, dropping the Arabic letter), connecting the eastern and western banks as it has, in one form or another, since the Sassanid Empire ruled these lands in the third century CE. The current structure dates to the 1860s, but the story of this crossing reaches back through Persian chroniclers and medieval geographers to a time when the road from Baghdad to Khorasan depended on its arches.

Read more: Alwand Bridge on Qualla

Image: احمد ارتيمتي | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/n/0/7/alwand-bridge-wp/tn07-alwand-bridge-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Alwand Bridge: Arches Across the Centuries https://qualla.com/alwand-bridge/ Photo credit احمد ارتيمتي, CC BY-SA 4.0. Persian sources record that the Sassanids built the original bridge around 1,600 years ago, placing it on the road from Baghdad to Khorasan that led to the Shirin Palace. It consisted of twenty-four arches, each spanning twenty cubits, rising six meters above the ground and stret...

Read more: Alwand Bridge on Qualla

Image: احمد ارتيمتي | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/n/0/7/alwand-bridge-wp/tn07-alwand-bridge-arches-across-the-centuries.mp3 0:06 2 full Alwand Bridge: A Princess and Her Pilgrimage https://qualla.com/alwand-bridge/ Photo credit احمد ارتيمتي, CC BY-SA 4.0. The bridge that stands today owes its existence to a woman whose name has been folded into local legend. In 1855, a princess -- the sister of Shah Mohammad Ali Mirza, the former ruler of Kermanshah -- set out on a religious pilgrimage to the Shia shrines in Karbala and Najaf. Whe...

Read more: Alwand Bridge on Qualla

Image: احمد ارتيمتي | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/n/0/7/alwand-bridge-wp/tn07-alwand-bridge-a-princess-and-her-pilgrimage.mp3 0:06 3 full Alwand Bridge: The Cost of Crossing https://qualla.com/alwand-bridge/ Photo credit احمد ارتيمتي, CC BY-SA 4.0. The construction exacted a terrible price. Roughly two thousand of the five thousand laborers are said to have died during the project -- from floods that swept the work site, from falls during construction, and from other accidents. They were buried in a cemetery that still exis...

Read more: Alwand Bridge on Qualla

Image: احمد ارتيمتي | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/n/0/7/alwand-bridge-wp/tn07-alwand-bridge-the-cost-of-crossing.mp3 0:06 4 full Alwand Bridge: Survival and Restoration https://qualla.com/alwand-bridge/ Photo credit احمد ارتيمتي, CC BY-SA 4.0. The bridge proved remarkably durable. It handled modern vehicles and heavy loads well into the twentieth century. But its story did not end with construction. Under the previous regime, the original brick parapets were demolished and replaced with iron railings, altering its appe...

Read more: Alwand Bridge on Qualla

Image: احمد ارتيمتي | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/n/0/7/alwand-bridge-wp/tn07-alwand-bridge-survival-and-restoration.mp3 0:06 5 full