Builders^59'37''

Almost 500 years ago, sultan Suleiman the Magnificent had a bridge built in the city of Osijek, a bridge his contemporaries called the eighth wonder of the world. In the 21st century, the Pan-European corridor 5C connects the Hungarian capital with the Croatian port of Ploče. It is the shortest route from Hungary, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to central Europe and Dalmatia, and Osijek is on it. The builders faced the challenge of bridging the Drava river yet again. A place a couple of kilometers downstream from Osijek was chosen as the spot where the two banks of the river, Slavonija and Baranja, would be connected by a modern highway bridge. At a length of almost two and a half kilometers, it is the longest bridge ever to be built in Croatia. Even the Pelješac bridge will be shorter than the Osijek one.

In a little over three years, the wetland in the middle of the thick forest gave way to a fascinating construction. It was the fruit of the labor of several hundred people of varying professions, from engineers to manual workers. There was even a woman among them, and she handled the company of men brilliantly. They switched their homes for rooms and apartments in the immediate vicinity of the construction site, so they could be by the river, each with their tool in hand, every morning; even before dawn in winter. Sometimes, they would work till late in the evening, defying the winter cold and the summer heat, the mud and the dust, the nature, that can sometimes be so extremely ruthless. Behind them, they left a bridge, which future generations will drive on. But only the builders will remember the construction project that will over and over again invoke feelings of satisfaction and pride, understood only by those who love to build.