The viaduct in Vorokhta is a railway stone arch bridge across the Prut River in the Ivano-Frankivsk region in the village of Vorokhta (if you drive along the highway, the distance from our Chillax hotel to it will be 18 kilometers, and if you go directly on foot, the path will be much in short – about 7 kilometers). The urban-type settlement of Vorokhta is located at an altitude of 850 meters above sea level in the Carpathian Natural National Park, in the upper reaches of the Prut River.
It is quite possible that not all of our compatriots know: a viaduct is a large arched stone bridge leading from one slope to another over deep gorges and mountain rivers. People learned to create such permanent crossings from stone blocks back in the days of the Roman Empire.
The construction of this viaduct (and the roads to it on both sides) was completed in 1895 – at a time when the local area was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, by captured Italian military personnel, as well as foreign and local workers, for whom such a grandiose construction provided the opportunity for very good earn money, although the work was almost hard labor.
Be that as it may, the viaduct, built from huge stone blocks, turned out to be a success: its length is more than 130 meters, the width of the central arch is 65 meters! The miracle of engineering at that time, the titanic efforts of thousands of builders, the economic aspirations of royal dynasties in the past have now virtually become an open-air museum.
The two banks of the Prut in Vorokhta had to be connected by a graceful turn of the viaduct, the result literally mesmerized the guests (and is still impressive to this day): the train, approaching the village from one bank, greeted the residents with a whistle, then circled the center of Vorokhta in a wide arc at a height, hiding behind the bend as if dissolving into thin air. Unfortunately, it is no longer possible to watch a train pass over the viaduct: in order to preserve the unique architectural relic, a backup bridge was built next to it in 2000.
It is interesting that the width of the upper part of the ancient viaduct was the minimum possible: a steam locomotive with carriages passed along the railway track, and it seemed to passengers that their carriage seemed to be floating in the air. Now the Austro-Hungarian masterpiece of bridge construction is available for photo shoots for domestic and foreign tourists around the clock. Huge high spans, graceful arches, openwork supports look great at any time of the day or year.
We also note that Vorokhta is a year-round climatic resort, providing tourists with the opportunity to completely freely not only admire one of the oldest, tallest and longest viaducts in Europe, but also see three more rare stone crossings, which even to this day still serve people as transport arteries.
So visit Vorokhta, you won’t regret it 😀
Where is located
Vorokhta, Ivano-Frankivsk region.
