Tatarna Bridge
# Tatarna Bridge

The Tatarna Bridge (Greek: Γέφυρα Τατάρνας) is a bridge over the Kremasta (place which belonged to the municipality of Alevrada Amfilochias) artificial lake (which was created after the building of a huge dam (160 meters high) in the narrowest point of the river Achelous). It was designed by Aristarchos Oikonomou, and built between 1971 and 1973. It is a box girder bridge with three spans; the largest span is 196 m. The bridge is situated on the border of the regional prefectures Aetolia-Acarnania and Evrytania. The nearest village is Triklino. The name Tatarna comes from a nearby monastery.

## History

In the same place there was a 17th-century arch stone bridge over the river Achelous. Adjacent to the old bridge was the largest spring of the Achelous, known to the locals by the name Mardacha (Μαρδάχα). Both the bridge and the spring were submerged when the Kremasta Dam was built in the 1960s and the area overflowed by the waters.

Near the old Tatarna bridge, the first battle of the Greeks from Roumeli against the Turks during the struggle for independence (1821) took place.

Not far from the new bridge is a hole in the ground. In that hole (according to the locals and other sources) many opponents of the National Liberation Front were thrown. A monument was erected nearby to remember the event.

