Lake Büyükçekmece

Why would a sultan build a bridge he would never see finished? When Suleiman the Magnificent decided to have Mimar Sinan build a bridge across the marshy flats where Lake Büyükçekmece meets the Marmara, perhaps he never asked himself this question. The bridge was completed after the sultan died in 1566 during the Szigetvár campaign. So Suleiman never once crossed it… Perhaps some of history’s great works are built for tomorrows their owners will never see.