The bridge was built by order of Emperor Trajan between 103 and 105 A.D. It is the work of the famous architect Apollodorus of Damascus. Nowadays, it represents one of the most interesting vestiges in Romania. The bridge was destroyed in the 3rd century A.D., and only the piers situated on the Serbian and Romanian banks still stand.
The bridge was built in the spot where the Danube is at its narrowest and where its waters are most shallow, and was initially 1,134.9 m long, 13.55 m large and 19 m tall. Erecting it required a large number of stone blocks, transported from the nearby quarries, and much timber, provided by the countless oak trees readily available in the rich forests on both sides of the Danube. The inauguration of the bridge is depicted on the Trajan Column in Rome.
After Dacia was conquered by the Romans, the defence of the bridge was entrusted to the town of Drossera, which Emperor Hadrianus made into a ômunicipiumö in 124 A.D. and Emperor Septimius Severus proclaimed a ôcoloniaö later (193 A.D.). The bridge was gradually destroyed after the Romans pulled out of Dacia.
