The Gozo Aqueduct is an aqueduct on the island of

Gozo Gozo (, ), Maltese: ''Għawdex'' () and in antiquity known as Gaulos ( xpu, 𐤂𐤅𐤋, ; grc, Γαῦλος, Gaúlos), is an island in the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Republic of Malta. After t ...

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. It was built by the British between 1839 and 1843 to transport water from Għar Ilma in the limits of

Kerċem Kerċem ( mt, Ta' Kerċem) is an administrative unit of Malta, on the island of Gozo, with a population of 1,938 people as of March 2014. The village of Kerċem lies close by to the south-west of Victoria, spread between the picturesque Lunzjat ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. A reservoir was built within the

ditch A ditch is a small to moderate divot created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. Ditches ar ...

of the

Cittadella Cittadella ( vec, Sitadeła) is a medieval walled city in the province of Padua, northern Italy, founded in the 13th century as a military outpost of Padua. The surrounding wall has been restored and is in circumference with a diameter of around ...

to store water which most probably stored water coming from the Cittadella itself. An

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by Anc ...

was built near the reservoirs to commemorate the opening of the aqueduct. Gozo Aquaduct Obelisk June 2016

The aqueduct fell into a state of disrepair after it was replaced by a system of pipes and electrical pumps. Large sections of it were lost in a series of collapses, the latest of which occurred during a storm in the 1980s. Despite this, significant portions of the aqueduct's arches still stand, and they are regarded to have value as a ruin. In 2019, it was reported that the Ministry for Gozo had plans to

reconstruct Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...

the entire aqueduct, a project which would have involved the dismantling of the surviving arches. The project's planning application was suspended after opposition by the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage and the

Environment and Resources Authority The Environment and Resources Authority (ERA, mt, Awtorità għall-Ambjent u r-Riżorsi) is the regulatory agency responsible for the natural environment in Malta. It was formed from the demerger of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority i ...

References

Aqueducts in Malta Ruins in Malta Bridges completed in 1844 Kerċem Victoria, Gozo {{Malta-geo-stub

See also

References