The Pont Ambroix or Pont d'Ambrussum ( French for ''Ambrussum Bridge'') was a 1st-century BC

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 ...

in the south of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

which was part of the

Via Domitia The Via Domitia was the first Roman road built in Gaul, to link Italy and Hispania through Gallia Narbonensis, across what is now Southern France. The route that the Romans regularised and paved was ancient when they set out to survey it, and tr ...

. It crossed the

Vidourle The Vidourle (; ''Vidorle'' in occitan) is a river in southern France that flows into the Mediterranean Sea in Le Grau-du-Roi. Its source is in the Cévennes mountains, northwest of Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort, at Saint-Roman-de-Codières. It flow ...

at Ambrussum, between today's

Gallargues-le-Montueux Gallargues-le-Montueux (; oc, Galargues) is a commune in the Gard department in southern France. Geography Gallargues-le-Montueux is situated near the river Vidourle, 6 km northeast of Lunel and 20 km southwest of Nîmes. Gallargue ...

in the Gard department and Villetelle in the

Hérault Hérault (; oc, Erau, ) is a department of the region of Occitania, Southern France. Named after the Hérault River, its prefecture is Montpellier. It had a population of 1,175,623 in 2019.High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended around AD 150 ...

, a

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

devoted to St Mary was added to the structure. Today, only one of the original eleven arches remains in the middle of the river. Ambrussum contains three archaeological sites of international importance: the Colline de Devès which was first occupied in 2300 BC and settled as an ''

oppidum An ''oppidum'' (plural ''oppida'') is a large fortified Iron Age settlement or town. ''Oppida'' are primarily associated with the Celtic late La Tène culture, emerging during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, spread across Europe, stretchi ...

'' between 300 BC and 100 AD; the Roman

staging post A stage station or relay station, also known as a staging post, a posting station, or a stage stop, is a place where exhausted horses could be replaced by fresh animals, since a long journey was much faster without delays when horses needed rest ...

on the

which had hotels, a baths and industrial buildings; and the Pont Ambroix. The bridge was sketched by Anne Rulman in 1620 and the drawing shows only four arches. An 1839 lithograph and a painting by

Gustave Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( , , ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and ...

(1857) show two arches. The Vidourlades are violent floods on the Vidourle, in which the water flow increases from a minimum of 3 m³/s to over 3000 m³/s. Floods were recorded 8 October 1723. The floods of 18 November 1745 reduced the bridge from four arches to three. Further major floods occurred 6 October 1812, 21 October 1891, 21 September 1907. The floods of 7 September 1933 reduced the bridge from two arches to the one we see today. The site was abandoned when transit patterns changed; the Via Domitia became less important and the community relocated to Lunel-Viel which better served a north–south transit pattern, but the bridge continued in use until the late Middle Ages. The bridge is a Mérimée list National Monument No. PA00103057. The oppidum is Mérimée list National Monument No. PA00103760 File:Pons Ambrussi.JPG, In 1620 File:Pont d'Ambrussium-Lith-Thierry Freres.JPG, In 1839 File:Gustave Courbet, 1857, Le Pont d'Ambrussum, huile sur papier marouflé sur bois, 48 x 63 cm, Musée Fabre.jpg, In 1857

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Painting of the bridge by

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ambroix, Pont Roman bridges in France Deck arch bridges Stone bridges in France Bridges completed in the 1st century BC Buildings and structures in Gard Buildings and structures in Hérault Tourist attractions in Gard Tourist attractions in Hérault 1st-century BC establishments in the Roman Republic

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