If you come to Zabljak from the direction of Pljevlje, you will come across a bridge over the Tara River that was built back in 1937 and even today leaves people speachless. The bridge is named after the place where it was made: Djurdjevic Tara. It was designed by Mijat Trojanović, while the chief engineer in charge of building the bridge was Isaac Russo. It was completed in 1940 when it broke two world records. First one was for building the largest wooden scaffold (still holds this record, and the construction of scaffolds was 40% of the cost of the whole bridge) and the largest reinforced concrete arch with a span of 116 m.
An official opening of the bridge, unfortunately, never occurred because it was completed in 1940, just before the start of World War II. During the war, the partisans had to stop this way of traffic communication, so the destruction of the bridge was entrusted to engineer Lazar Jaukovic who destroyed only the smallest arc (there are five arches). Lazar Jauković was later executed near the bridge. The bridge was rebuilt in 1946, and in 2010 a UK company made a bungee jump at the largest arc which is 160 meters above the canyon. |