Warsaw: SiltaNews – News Desk
Numbering about 100 in total, the uprights posts that once supported the bridge across the River Wieprz now stick out of the water owing to falling water levels caused by little rain. The discovery was made near the eastern town of Łęczna, and, according to the regional heritage conservator, the timbers are likely the foundations of a key bridge that disappeared decades ago and may date back more than two centuries.
“Old cartographic sources indicate that the bridge in Łęczna was once among the most important crossings in the historical communication system of the Lublin region,” the conservator wrote in a Facebook post. Archaeologists say the structure once formed part of a trade route that connected central Poland with territories further east, at a time when permanent river crossings were rare.
Most travelers relied on ferries or rafts, making bridges such as this one a crucial local road-link. While the exact age of the remains is not yet known, historical sources suggest that a bridge stood here in the late 18th century, possibly built by military engineers under orders from the Polish royal army.
Some accounts indicate that the crossing was used by troops returning from a battle against Russia in 1792, during a war fought to defend Poland’s independence. “The bridge had to support the weight of cannons, ammunition and supply wagons, and mobile forges,” the conservator wrote. “It can be assumed, however, that the structure was not durable, as early 19th-century maps no longer mark a bridge at the site.”
Local authorities plan to conduct archaeological surveys ahead of the construction of a new pedestrian and cycling bridge, which will follow the route of the old crossing. Another bridge was later built further south and served local traffic until after World War Two.