Gorica Bridge — Making One City Across the Osum
Listen at the stop, then read the transcript and follow the sources behind the story.
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Transcript
The Gorica Bridge turns the Osum from an edge into a connection. A wooden crossing existed earlier; the stone bridge took its familiar form in the Ottoman period and was later repaired after floods. Bridges in towns like Berat were economic infrastructure first. They moved people, animals and goods between the commercial core and neighborhoods on the opposite bank. They also concentrated risk: floodwater, maintenance costs and military movement all passed through the same narrow structure. From here the city’s geography becomes clear. Mangalem climbs one side, Gorica rises on the other, and the castle controls the higher ground. Berat’s celebrated view is therefore the product of transport and topography, not a composition designed for tourists.