Alcantara Bridge

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Coordinates: 39 ° 43 ′ 21 ″  N , 6 ° 53 ′ 33 ″  W.

Alcantara Bridge
Alcantara Bridge
"Wonder of the world" of Roman architecture
Convicted Street Norba - Conimbriga
Crossing of Tagus
place Alcántara ( Spain )
construction Arch bridge with vaulted vaults
overall length 194 m
width 8 m
Number of openings 6th
Clear width Max. 28.60 m
Pillar strength 8.30 m
height 71 m
completion 105 or 106 AD
planner Caius Iulius Lacer
location
Alcantara Bridge (Extremadura)
Alcantara Bridge

The Alcántara Bridge ( Spanish Puente de Alcántara ) is a Roman stone arch bridge in Spain that spans the Tagus River near the town of the same name in Extremadura about five kilometers from the Portuguese border . It is considered the most important remaining Roman bridge structure .

Architecture and dedication

The bridge extends with six arches of different widths over a length of 194 meters. Its 8 meter wide roadway is about 50 meters above the normal water level of the Tagus, the total height of the structure is 71 meters. The two central arches of the bridge, with their widths of 27.34 meters and 28.60 meters respectively, are among the largest preserved ancient arches. The rectangular pillars measuring around 12.20 x 8.30 meters in plan are equipped with triangular baffles about 8 meters in length on both sides and are located directly on the slate rock of the subsoil, into which the foundation platforms were carved. The bridge was built without mortar in the opus quadratum (Roman square construction), whereby the stones were connected with metal clips in some places, especially in the lower area of ​​the pillars.

Towards the middle of the bridge there is an honorary arch about 14 meters high , dedicated to the Emperor Trajan , which names the municipalities financing the construction on plaques . In addition, a small temple dedicated to the deified Roman emperors was built from the granite blocks also used to build the bridge on the southeast side , which contains the burial place of the builder of the bridge, Caius Iulius Lacer, probably a Roman military engineer. Along with the temple of Vic, it is one of only two completely preserved Roman temples on the Iberian Peninsula.

Inside there was a stone tablet (replaced in the 19th century by a new one made of marble) with an inscription that names the architect and tells the bridge to endure the centuries:

Pontem perpetui mansurum
in saecula mundi
fecit divina nobilis arte Lacer ...
The bridge to last forever
in the eternal course of the world,
created the laudable Lacer with divine art ...

history

construction of the bridge

The road bridge was built in the first decade of the second century AD, at the time of Emperor Trajan , within about five years. By comparison, it often took decades or even centuries to build projects of a similar size in the Middle Ages . The short construction period was made possible by the high degree of logistical organization of the Roman central administration and transport system, which could effectively concentrate workers - free workers and slaves - from a huge reservoir in certain places. The Alcántara bridge was probably completed in AD 105 or 106.

The construction was carried out on the financial initiative of eleven municipalities in the province of Lusitania . They wanted to improve the traffic connections to Cantabria and Galicia , which were especially important for the supply from the iron deposits exploited there. Until then, this could only be served on the difficult and risky sea route across the Atlantic . The core of the traffic artery was the new road connection between Norba (today Cáceres ) and Conimbriga (near Condeixa-a-Velha ), on which the Tagus River ( Spanish Tagus , Portuguese Tejo ) had to be overcome as the most important obstacle .

It was decided to span the Tagus with a bridge at a point where it is cut deep into the hilly landscape. Since the high and low water amplitudes are particularly high at this location, special requirements were placed on the construction to be realized. Lacer solved the problem with a statically and aesthetically impressive construction.

Arab Conquest and Reconquista

The Arabs, who had conquered the Iberian Peninsula at the beginning of the eighth century , valued the structural and strategic importance of the bridge so highly that they found the settlement of al-Qantara emerging on the hill above the approach to the bridge (القنطرة) called, which simply means "the bridge". The historian and geographer al-Idrisi called the "sword bridge " ( Qantarat as-Saif قنطرة السيف) in his description of Spain in the 12th century as one of the wonders of the world . The legend that a golden sword was walled in inside the bridge probably goes back to the Arabic name mentioned ; According to another tradition, it is said to be the sword of Roderich , the last Visigoth king of Toledo .

When the Christian troops approached at the time of the Reconquista , the retreating Moors destroyed one of the two smallest arches. King Alfonso IX finally conquered . of Leon on the later Alcántara in 1213 for his kingdom and handed fortress and bridge five years Order of Alcántara referred to military orders .

The engraving by Gaucherel / Lemaître shows the condition of the bridge at the beginning of the 19th century. The roadway rising towards the center is easy to see.

  • View through the arch of honor to the north, in the background the Torre de Oro

  • Remains of the border fortifications built under Emperor Charles V ( Torre de Oro )

  • Looking south, in the background the small temple with Lacers grave

  • The entrance of the temple with the burial place of the Roman architect

Renovations and war damage

Illustration in a Spanish magazine, 1857 (shows the current situation at the time with a gap)

Under King Charles I in 1543 the building was restored, renovated and equipped with defensive structures on the north bank facing Portugal, the remains of which (the so-called Torre de Oro , "Golden Tower") are still visible today. As a reminder, a plaque with an inscription was attached to the arch of honor on the left (see photo).

During the Spanish War of Succession in 1707, the first arch on the northwest side, King Charles III. Was rebuilt in 1778.

In the coalition wars in 1809, during the fighting between Napoleonic and Portuguese-English forces, the second arch, seen from the north-west, was blown up. Driving on the bridge was then made possible again in 1818 by an auxiliary construction made of wood, which, however, burned itself during the Carlist Wars in 1836. Only between 1858 and 1869 was the destroyed arch rebuilt at the behest of Queen Isabella II , who also had a memorial plaque attached to the right side of the Trajan arch. At the same time, the roadway that had risen towards the middle was straightened and the bridge arch was not built without mortar as it was originally, which does not correspond to today's conservation principles.

South view of the bridge with a dam in the background

  • Photograph by J. Laurent (around 1870)

  • Book illustration by T. Taylor (1883)

  • Photo taken from the mountain, shows the straightened road

Dam wall

The dam for the Alcántara reservoir was built about 600 meters upstream in 1970 .

Architecture award

The international architecture prize Premio Internacional Puente de Alcántara has been awarded by a foundation every two years since 1988 , with which "under the sign of this Roman bridge, engineering structures of outstanding cultural, technical, aesthetic or social importance in Spain , Portugal and Latin America are to be honored" .

and display information about the image
Panoramic picture of the bridge of Alcántara (north view)

World Heritage

Applications have been made for the bridge to be included in the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1998. In 2013, a bipartisan initiative was formed in the state parliament of Extremadura , which aims to revive and promote the process of recognition of the monument. In October 2014, the then extreme culture minister, Trinidad Nogales, responded to a parliamentary question on the status of the proceedings and announced that it would revisit the plans for the construction of an alternative bridge, which had been inactive for years, to relieve the Roman bridge from through car traffic. This is "the first" that the government elected to office at the time will tackle in order to support the request to have this "jewel of Extremadura, perhaps the most important bridge in the West ", entered on the international world heritage list.

Epigraphs

Documented Latin inscriptions from the site in the Hispaniae Epigraphica project :

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Bridge of Alcántara  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The entire inscription ( CIL 2, 761 ) reads: Imp (eratori) Nervae Traiano Caesari Augusto Germanico Dacico sacrum // templum in rupe Tagi superis et Caesare plenum / ars ubi materia vincitur ips {s} a sua / avis quali dederit voto fortasse requiret / cura viatorum quos nova fama iuvat / ingentem vasta pontem qui mole peregit / sacra litaturo fecit honore Lacer / qui pontem fecit Lacer et nova templa dicavit / scilicet et superis munera sola litan (t) / pontem perpetui mansurum in saecula fecit mundi nobilis arte Lacer / idem Romuleis templum cum Caesare divis / constituit felix utraque causa sacri // C (aius) Iulius Lacer d (e) d (ecurionum) s (ententia) f (ecit) et dedicavit amico Curio Lacone Igeditano
  2. ↑ after the self-portrayal of the San Benito de Alcántara Foundation , Alcántara
  3. ↑ Cultura intentará que el Puente de Alcántara sea Sitio Histórico y Patrimonio de la Humanidad. Press report in the provincial newspaper Hoy of October 9, 2014, accessed on February 22, 2016.