The Raschpëtzer Qanat is located NE of

Helmsange Helmsange (, ) is a town in the commune of Walferdange, in central Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Du ...

in the commune of

Walferdange Walferdange ( lb, Walfer ; german: Walferdingen) is a commune and small town in central Luxembourg. Geography The commune of Walferdange is located north of Luxembourg City in the valley of the Alzette. It is part of the canton Luxembourg. The ...

, 10 km north of the

City of Luxembourg Luxembourg ( lb, Lëtzebuerg; french: Luxembourg; german: Luxemburg), also known as Luxembourg City ( lb, Stad Lëtzebuerg, link=no or ; french: Ville de Luxembourg, link=no; german: Stadt Luxemburg, link=no or ), is the capital city of the Gr ...

. A

qanat A qanat or kārīz is a system for transporting water from an aquifer or water well to the surface, through an underground aqueduct; the system originated approximately 3,000 BC in what is now Iran. The function is essentially the same across ...

is an underground

water management Water resources are natural resources of water that are potentially useful for humans, for example as a source of drinking water supply or irrigation water. 97% of the water on the Earth is salt water and only three percent is fresh water; slightl ...

system consisting of vertical shafts connecting to a sloping tunnel designed to provide a supply of fresh water. The Raschpëtzer is a particularly well preserved example of a qanat and is probably the most extensive system of its kind north of the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

. It has been under systematic excavation for the past 40 years. To date some 330 m of the total tunnel length of 600 m have been explored. Thirteen of the 20 to 25 shafts have been discovered.Pierre Kayser and Guy Waringo: L’aqueduc souterrain des Raschpëtzer, un monument antique de l’art de l’ingénieur au Luxembourg
. Retrieved 2 December 2007 The qanat appears to have provided water for a large

Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Typology and distribution Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas n ...

on the slopes of the

Alzette The Alzette (; ; ) is a river with a length of in France and Luxembourg. It is a right tributary of the Sauer (a tributary to the Moselle), and ultimately to the Rhine. It rises in Thil near the town Villerupt in the Meurthe-et-Moselle ''dé ...

valley. It was built during the

Gallo-Roman Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, language, morals and way of life in a uniquely Gaulish context ...

period, probably around the year 150 and functioned for about 120 years thereafter.

Footnotes

Roman sites in Luxembourg Roman aqueducts outside Rome Persian developed underground aqueducts {{AncientRome-stub