Karabıyık Bridge

Karabıyık Bridge crosses a natural spring stream on the Yozgat–Boğazlıyan road, about 500 meters north of the turnoff to Karabıyık village and roughly 200–250 meters off the main road. According to tradition, the bridge was built in 1516 by order of Ottoman Sultan Selim I ("Yavuz," the Grim) while marching on his Egyptian campaign, making it a tangible trace of Ottoman military routes through the region. Constructed of rubble masonry faced with finely cut stone, the bridge has two pointed arches and stone parapets, transitioning to the roadway via a projecting stone molding. Today the parapets show some collapse and the walls some erosion. Although the bridge itself is now closed to traffic and its deck has been asphalted over, the original stone paving beneath can still be seen. Sultan Selim I's 1516–1517 Egyptian campaign was a pivotal historical march that ended the Mamluk Sultanate and transferred the Islamic caliphate to the Ottomans; the bridges built along this campaign route were intended to carry the army and its supply lines. Karabıyık Bridge stands as one of the concrete surviving traces of this major historical episode within present-day Yozgat province, representing the region's Ottoman military infrastructure heritage.