Spanning the centuries: the trade in silk, wool and tobacco

Once upon a time, there was a Bosnian-born vizier called Damad Mustafa Pasha. He decided to build a bridge over the river for two reasons – to make the eastern leg of the journey between Vienna and Istanbul easier, and to immortalise himself, though he didn’t yet know that he would die young. The bridge turned out to be so spectacular that when Suleiman the Magnificent and his army passed on their way to “holy war” against Buda in the Austro-Hungarian lands, Suleiman was gripped with unholy envy.