THE SYMBOL OF MALI ZVORNIK: King Alexander’s mighty bridge connects Serbia and Bosnia

Bridges as the eternal symbols of connecting of peoples and times, they dominate every city that has the privilege of having a river.

There are few places lucky enough to have a river as mighty as Drina flow through them.

One of those places is Mali Zvornik.

Mali Zvornik and Veliki Zvornik are two cities connected with two bridges, which actually connect Serbia and Republika Srpska. One of them is the symbol of Mali Zvornik: King Alexander Bridge.

It is interesting how this bridge got its name: In July 1919, Mali Zvornik was visited by serbian King Alexander, the great-grandson of the Karadjordje Petrović, the leader of the First Serbian Uprising. Previously, Karadjordje, thanks to who Serbs began to fight for freedom in 1804, vowed to bridge the river Drina. The wars against the Turks and the death of Karadjordje prevented him from fulfilling this, but this vow was greeted by his great-grandson, King Alexander.

Thanks to him, the famous iron bridge in Mali Zvornik was built, and it was ceremonially opened on January 12, 1930. It was named after King Alexander, and today it is a pedestrian crossing to Bosnia and Republic of Srpska.

On one day from August 2nd to 8th, on the old railway bridge, at noon, since 2010, the leaders of Veliki Zvornik and the Mali Zvornik municipality meet.

In this way they present their values, tolerance, respect, love, cultural creativity, tourism and sports potentials. Also, they symbolically show the importance of bridges and how important it is to maintain them. Leaders of Mali Zvornik municipality announced that the bridge of King Aleksandar Prvog Karadjordjevic on the Drina will soon be reconstructed. For its reconstruction, the Government of Serbia has allocated about 600 thousand euros.

This article is a part of the project “Seven miracles of Mali Zvornik”, supported by the Mali Zvornik Municipality. Positions of the supported media project do not necessarily reflect statements of the organ supporting the project. 

(Come to Serbia)