Low water levels in the Danube River have exposed the foundations of a bridge built by Emperor Constantine the Great, gi...

Low water levels in the Danube River have exposed the foundations of a bridge built by Emperor Constantine the Great, giving archaeologists their first close look at the structure in nearly two years. The bridge, commissioned by Constantine I and inaugurated in 328 AD, sat submerged for most of its existence and rarely surfaces long enough to study properly. The ruins appeared near the village of Giggen in northern Bulgaria, where drought and consecutive heat waves have pushed the Danube to unusually low levels. Pavel Popov of the Pleven Regional History Museum told Reuters that moments like these are extraordinarily valuable, describing it as a rare chance to observe, document, and study the structure in its actual environment. The bridge originally connected the ancient city of Ulpia Oescus to Sucidava in present-day Romania. At over two kilometers long, it ranks among the longest bridges of antiquity. It only functioned for about 40 years before being largely destroyed around 367 AD. On August 4, a team from the Pleven museum conducted drone aerial photography of the visible bridge remains, mapping out the visible foundation line and assessing the condition of the exposed stonework. The footage gives researchers a detailed record of what remains of one of Rome's most ambitious engineering projects. The Danube and Rhine have both been hit hard by Europe's prolonged drought conditions, but the receding waters have handed archaeologists an unexpected window. How long the foundations remain visible depends entirely on rainfall across central Europe in the coming weeks. #Constantine #Danube #AncientHistory