Pont sur la Laye
Coordinates: 43 ° 55 ′ 47 " N , 5 ° 45 ′ 23" E
| Pont sur Laye | ||
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| place | Mane , Provence ( France ) | |
| construction | Segment arch bridge with vaulted vaults | |
| overall length | 40 m | |
| width | 3.20 m | |
| Number of openings | 3 | |
| Clear width | Max. 11.40 m | |
| Arch thickness (vertex) | 30 to 60 cm | |
| Arrow ratio | Max. 3 to 1 | |
| construction time | Roman or Romanesque | |
| location | ||
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The Pont sur la Laye or Pont roman de Mane ( German: Romanesque Bridge of Mane ) is an old stone arch bridge over the Laye river in the French Provence not far from the town of Mane .
construction
The 40 m long and 3.2 m wide bridge has three arches with a maximum cant of approx. 3: 1. The spans are 2.80 m, 7.90 m and 11.40 m; the two larger arched ribs are only one or two Roman feet thick . This makes the Pont sur la Laye one of the few ancient bridges in which the ratio of arch thickness to span width falls below the safety standard of 1:20 that is otherwise preferred by Roman architects.
The bridge was built from local limestone , which was slammed differently depending on its function: the arches are made of wedge stones, the wall shell of the arches from semi-worked rubble stones. The main pier is provided with triangular breakwaters made from carefully hewn blocks, both upstream and downstream. The roadway, the paving of which has been preserved, rises steeply from the left bank of the river to the main arch and then drops slightly to the higher bank on the other side. Parts of the parapet, which O'Connor reported as broken in 1993, have apparently been repaired in the meantime.
Chronological order
According to the Italian bridge builder Gazzola, the construction of the Pont sur la Laye is dated to the end of the 1st or the beginning of the 2nd century AD. The bridge would be one of the dozen or so known Roman segment arch bridges . Structurae, on the other hand, classifies the bridge as early Romanesque , i.e. in the 11th century. According to the Mane website, the original single-arch bridge was not extended by two arches, including baffles, until the 17th century. Accordingly, the segment arcs would be of relatively new origin.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b O'Connor, Colin, (1993), p. 171
- ↑ a b Pont sur la Laye. In: Structurae
- ↑ a b O'Connor, Colin (1993), p. 169 (Fig. 140)
- ↑ a b c d O'Connor, Colin (1993), p. 96
- ↑ O'Connor, Colin (1993), pp. 96, 97 (Fig. 65)
- ↑ Main page of the city of Mane
literature
- Colin O'Connor: Roman Bridges , Cambridge University Press 1993, ISBN 0-521-39326-4 , pp. 96f., 169, 171
