[citation needed] In the field surveys conducted in Maslıdere, situated along the route going to Kırkkavak village to the south, many ware fragments overlaid with ornamental striped and pressed figures have been discovered with designs that have never been encountered in Greece and Bulgaria.

In 15th century BC the land began to be settled by the Thracians and they had become tho sole owner of the place for a long time.

[citation needed] However, after the 7th century BC the Thracian domination came to end by the continuous invasions over the years and got into the hands sequentially of Greeks, Persians, Romans and Byzantines.

[3] Although the region has a very old past, a city had never been able to be built on the area where today's Uzunkopru exists because it'd been covered with vast swamps and dense forests till the Ottomans.

Eventually, the region was captured from the Byzantine Empire after the Ottoman conquest of Adrianople (which became renamed Edirne) in the 1360s, and only afterwards it could be possible for Uzunkopru city to be established.

The establishment of the city is the result of both the necessity of a settlement place acting as a junction point on the ways connecting the Ottoman capital Edirne to Gallipoli and the Balkans and secondly taking16 years to build the Long Bridge over the Ergene River.

The first 360- arched stone bridge built between 1424 and 1427 wasn't found satisfactory, thereby destructed and rebuilt by Murad II.

Due to the long-lasting works, the meeting of the needs of the workers and the soldiers protecting them and the area became indispensably necessary and had to be built a mosque, public kitchen, caravanserai, medrese, hammam and two water mills as facilities besides.

Subsequently, families from firstly Edirne and later the Turkoman tribes who had passed onto Rumelia was brought and settled in the region to maintain and develop those facilities, thus it was laid the foundations of the city.

In the beginning of 20th century the small town have mixed population of Turks, Bulgarians, Greeks, Orthodox Albanians, Armenians, Jews, Gypsies etc.

Today, the date of 18 November is celebrated as Uzunköprü's Independence Day to commemorate the liberation from the Greek occupation.

It is bordered by Greece and Meric town to the west, Tekirdag to the east, Kırklareli to the northeast, Ipsala and Kesan to the South, Edirne city and Havsa to the North.

As 70% of the unbuilt area is composed of arable soils that's allocated to cultivation, 20% of the rest is meadows and pastures, and 10% is forests and shrubland.

It's been located on a militarily and commercially highly strategic point connecting the capital Edirne to Galipoli and the Western Rumelia.

The bridge was built of binding ashlar blocks brought from the quarries in Yagmurca, Eskikoy and Hasırcıarnavut villages, to each other with Horasan cement.

The wings and arches of the bridge which has 13.56 m (44.48 ft) height, are embellished with several lion, elephant, bird, eagle, tulip and geometric relief motifs.

Uzunkopru didn't stay idle to these new political changes and the Liberty Monument was erected at the right side of the bridge's entry in such a political atmosphere to celebrate this great event with the contributions of the District Governor and Ottoman intellectual Mazhar Müfit Kansu and the Mayor Hafiz Ismail Yayalar on 11 December 1908.

However, the original markers were lost while the monument was being moved to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) left of its primary place during the bridge restoration in 1964 and haven't been able to be found so far.

The minaret adjacent to the wall of the mosque is made of ashlar and introduced into the body with Turkish triangles on a rectangular pedestal.

Media related to Mosque of Murad II, Uzunköprü at Wikimedia Commons The Greek Orthodox Saint John the Baptist Church (Turkish: Aziz Ioannis Kilisesi) was built by the Greek community on behalf of Saint John the Baptist (Ioannis Prodromos) in 1875.

It is known that over 17,000 Greek citizens had been baptized in the St. John the Baptist Church from 1875 until they left the city in 1924 as a result of the Population Exchange Protocol between Turkey and Greece signed in the Treaty of Lausanne.

The St. John Church has gained back its old grandeur with the restoration work lasting from 2011 to 2013 by the Uzunköprü Municipality, and opened its doors again after a long time with a big ceremony attended by Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople on 16 December 2013.

Although his birth and death dates are uncertain, it's generally accepted that he died in mid-1456 and was buried into the tomb built for him in Kırkkavak village.

In addition the mosque and the tomb which are pretty humble in terms of inner decoration, have single domes covered with lead atop.

The museum building, which is a historical structure on its own, was constructed as a private mansion in the beginning of the 20th century, and from 1939 it had started to be used as Tekel storage, outlet and lodge.