The Suleiman Bridge was a bridge in Osijek

Osijek

Osijek is the fourth largest city in Croatia with a population of 83,496 in 2011. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja county...

, over the Drava River in Slavonia

Slavonia

Slavonia is a geographical and historical region in eastern Croatia...

, eastern Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

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Construction

The traffic and strategic importance of Osijek was sustained during the Ottoman period

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

, but Osijek was then internationally known because of the Suleiman the Magnificent

Suleiman the Magnificent

Suleiman I was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566. He is known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent and in the East, as "The Lawgiver" , for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system...

 Bridge. The construction of the bridge which connected Osijek and Darda

Darda, Croatia

Darda is a village and a municipality just north of Osijek, Croatia, across the Drava river in Baranja. The population is 7,062 people.-Geography:The municipality of Darda includes following settlements:...

, began by Ibrahim Pasha on August 16, 1526 following the orders of Suleiman the Magnificent. The bridge was designed by the Mimar Sinan. It took the form of a wooden road on piers and was approximately 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) long and 6 metres (19.7 ft) wide. The bridge was rebuilt during the rule of Suleiman II

Suleiman II

Suleiman II was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1687 to 1691...

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Destruction

Seen as a great threat to Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, the bridge was attacked several times, being destroyed in 1664, when it was set on fire on the orders of the Croatian

Croats

Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...

 feudal lord Nicholas VII of Zrin

Miklós Zrínyi

Miklós Zrínyi or Nikola Zrinski was a Croatian and Hungarian soldier, statesman and poet, member of the Zrinski noble family....

 . After being rebuilt, the bridge was finally burnt down by the Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n army in 1686.