Every culture has own historical figures in Arts, Revolution, Science, etc. There’s one particular architect who has left marvelous heritage and mark at the Bulgarian architecture. His name is Nikola Fichev, also known in Bulgaria as Kolio Ficheto.
His bridges and buildings were built in mid/late 19th century. Most of them are still standing. They were and still are considered as historical and cultural landmarks for the country. What I will tell you about is one of his best and well known bridges in Bulgaria.
Byala bridge is located in North Bulgaria, at the very end of a small town called Byala. It’s winged over Yantra river which is one of the most important water flows in the area. Technically, the bridge is named after the town, Byala which means ‘white’ in Bulgarian but when you see the white karst rocks it was built with, you get the main idea. The area is full of these which is why the name of everything. After the lesson in Bulgarian you got it - the bridge is white and made of stones from the area. Let’s move to the history of this landmark.
It was built in late 19th century by the order of Mithat Pasa - a pretty important person within the area at that time. There were many animal reliefs all over the bridge, most of which were destroyed during a flood back in 1897. It was recovered later, in 20th century (unfortunately, with concrete) and this landmark is currently a walk through bridge and it can be captured from the nearby driver through bridge.
If you happen to hear that at a certain time of the day the bridge and it’s reflection look like demon face, please don’t trust this myth. This is not the Devil’s bridge for sure.
An interesting story about the Byala Bridge is that Mithat Pasa thought the Kolio Ficheto won’t make the bridge strong enough for the spring flow. When it was ready and the water came the Pasa noticed that he was not right, so he gave Kolio Ficheto the title of ‘usta’. Here’s another language lesson - ‘usta’ in Arabic means ‘master’, ‘teacher’.
It’s almost impossible to get to this place with local transport however, you can always do car pool or hire a car. Please, feel free to check this location and capture the moment if you are just passing. pulling over and taking the walk is worth too. I will be curious to see more images and impressions about this landmark.
