Serbia to bridge the Danube with smoke and mirrors
Posted: Thursday, 20 January 2011 by Jimmy Christ in Labels: Danube, Serbia, Split
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The Balkans' place at the centre of European history goes back a lot further than the shooting of Franz Ferdinand and the relentless onward march of the Ottoman frontier. The Roman Empire was split into two by a man who retired to grow cabbages in the sunkissed tranquillity of the Dalmatian coast, Emperor Diocletian being the first of many unable to resist the lure of Split and the laid back, Mediterranean way of life.Now Serbia is shining the spotlight on its considerable Roman heritage with a proposed tourist route called the Itinerarium Romanum Serbia, that'll drag history lovers from the cruise-choked tourist bottleneck of Diocletian's regal respite to the Empire's wild, warring frontier along the Danube. Kicking things off in suitably spectacular fashion, a projection of Trajan's Bridge, built 103-105 AD, will bring the structure looming from the fog of antiquity like a ghost ship.
“The hologram will show a replica of the original bridge for a length of 150 to 200 metres,” Project Director Miomir Korac told the AFP news agency. “We will install pumps that will spray a fine mist of water droplets which will allow the laser to project the image of the bridge.”
Trajan's Bridge was built by the Greek architect Apollodorus of Damascus to span the Danube from modern Serbia to modern Romania at the command of Emperor Trajan, in order to supply his embattled legionnaires in Dacia. Although it was demolished 150 years later by the retreating Emperor Aurelian, who'd had just about enough of pacifying the Dacians, Trajan's Bridge was the longest ever built for just over a thousand years and the remaining entrance pillars of the bridge are still visible on the banks, and twelve remain under water.
“The idea is to spruce up all these sites so that they can receive tourists by late 2012 and highlight that eighteen Roman emperors were born in this territory, including Constantine the Great,” explained Korac.
Trajan's Bridge was built by the Greek architect Apollodorus of Damascus to span the Danube from modern Serbia to modern Romania at the command of Emperor Trajan, in order to supply his embattled legionnaires in Dacia. Although it was demolished 150 years later by the retreating Emperor Aurelian, who'd had just about enough of pacifying the Dacians, Trajan's Bridge was the longest ever built for just over a thousand years and the remaining entrance pillars of the bridge are still visible on the banks, and twelve remain under water.
“The idea is to spruce up all these sites so that they can receive tourists by late 2012 and highlight that eighteen Roman emperors were born in this territory, including Constantine the Great,” explained Korac.