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The Alcántara Bridge (also known as Trajan's Bridge at Alcantara) is a
The Alcántara Bridge has suffered more damage from war than from the elements over the years. The
File:Puente_de_Alc%C3%A1ntara_tomada_desde_la_muralla_de_Alc%C3%A1ntara.JPG,
File:Bridge Alcantara.JPG,
Blick ueber die Bruecke von Alcantara.jpg, Looking south, in the background the small temple with Lacer's grave
Templo Romano dedicado a Trajano (Alcántara, Cáceres, España) , vista frontal..JPG, The entrance of the temple with the crypt of the Roman engineer
Puente de Alcántara sobre el Tajo, en Cáceres
Video of the bridge
Video of Alcántara
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alcantara Bridge Roman bridges in Spain Deck arch bridges Stone bridges in Spain Bridges over the Tagus Bridges in Extremadura Trajan
Roman bridge
The ancient Romans were the first civilization to build large, permanent bridges. Early Roman bridges used techniques introduced by Etruscan immigrants, but the Romans improved those skills, developing and enhancing methods such as arches and ...
at Alcántara
Alcántara is a municipality in the province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain, on the Tagus, near Portugal. The toponym is from the Arabic word ''al-Qaná¹arah'' (القنطرة) meaning "the bridge".
History
Archaeological findings have atteste ...
, in Extremadura
Extremadura (; ext, Estremaúra; pt, Estremadura; Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is an autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central-western part of the Iberian Peninsula, it ...
, Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
. Alcántara is from the Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
word ''al-Qantarah'' (القنطرة) meaning "the arch". The stone arch bridge
An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct ...
was built over the Tagus River
The Tagus ( ; es, Tajo ; pt, Tejo ; see below) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales near Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally west with two main south-westward sections, to e ...
between 104 and 106 AD by an order of the Roman emperor Trajan
Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...
in 98.
History
The Alcántara Bridge has suffered more damage from war than from the elements over the years. The Moors
The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages.
Moors are not a distinct or ...
destroyed one of the smallest arches in 1214 although this was rebuilt centuries later, in 1543, with stone taken from the original quarries. The second arch on the northwest side was then later destroyed in 1760 by the Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
to stop the Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
advancing and was repaired in 1762 by Charles III
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...
, only to be blown up again in 1809 by Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
's forces attempting to stop the French. Temporary repairs were made in 1819, but much of the bridge was destroyed yet again in 1836 by the Carlists. The bridge was rebuilt in 1860 using mortared masonry. And following completion of the José MarÃa de Oriol Dam, which allowed for the draining of the Tagus riverbed, the main pillars were completely repaired in 1969.
The bridge originally measured in length, which today is reduced to . The clear spans of the six arches from the right to the left riverside are , , , , and .
Construction
The bridge's construction occurred in theancient Roman
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...
province of Lusitania
Lusitania (; ) was an ancient Iberian Roman province located where modern Portugal (south of the Douro river) and
a portion of western Spain (the present Extremadura and the province of Salamanca) lie. It was named after the Lusitani or Lusita ...
. In Ancient Rome, the costs of building and repairing bridges, known as ''opus pontis'' ("bridge work"), were the responsibility of multiple local municipalities. Their shared costs prove Roman bridges belonged to the region overall, and not to any one town (or two, if on a border). The Alcántara Bridge was built at the expense of 12 local municipalities in Lusitania. The names were added on an inscription on the archway over the central pier
image:Brighton Pier, Brighton, East Sussex, England-2Oct2011 (1).jpg, Seaside pleasure pier in Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th century.
A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of ...
.
Gallery
See also
*List of Roman bridges
This is a list of Roman bridges. The Romans were the world's first major bridge builders. The following list constitutes an attempt to list all known surviving remains of Roman bridges.
A Roman bridge in the sense of this article includes an ...
* Roman temple of Alcántara
The Roman temple of Alcántara is located at one side of the Alcántara Bridge, Cáceres, Extremadura (Spain). Along with the Roman temple of Vic, it is one of the only two Roman temples preserved nearly complete in Spain.
History
The bridg ...
* Alcántara Dam
The Alcántara Dam, also known as the José MarÃa de Oriol Dam, is a buttress dam on the Tagus River near Alcántara in the province of Cáceres, Spain. It is named after the politician and captain of the Spanish electricity industry José Marà ...
References
Further reading
* * * * *External links
*Puente de Alcántara sobre el Tajo, en Cáceres
Video of the bridge
Video of Alcántara
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alcantara Bridge Roman bridges in Spain Deck arch bridges Stone bridges in Spain Bridges over the Tagus Bridges in Extremadura Trajan