Ponte d'Augusto (Narni) on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
The Bridge of Augustus (Italian "Ponte d’Augusto") is a Roman arch bridge in the Italian city
The bridge was a popular destination on the
Narni
Narni (in Latin, Narnia) is an ancient hilltown and ''comune'' of Umbria, in central Italy, with 19,252 inhabitants (2017). At an altitude of 240 m (787 ft), it overhangs a narrow gorge of the Nera River in the province of Terni. ...
in Umbria
it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 =
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 =
, demographics1_info1 =
, ...
, built to carry the Flaminian Way
The Via Flaminia or Flaminian Way was an ancient Roman road leading from Rome over the Apennine Mountains to ''Ariminum'' (Rimini) on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, and due to the ruggedness of the mountains was the major option the Romans had ...
over the river Nera Nera may refer to:
People
* Nera Smajic (born 1984), Bosnian-born Swedish footballer
* Nera Stipičević (born 1983), Croatian actress
* Nera White (1935–2016), American basketball player
* André António Ribeiro Novais (born 1988), Portugue ...
. Of the original four spans of the bridge, only the southernmost remains standing.
History
The bridge was built underAugustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...
around 27 BC using marble blocks. The 30 m high structure was one of the largest bridges constructed by the Romans.
According to the Umbrian Superintendence of Archaeological Heritage:
:The complexity of the structure and a number of irregularities suggest that its construction was a lengthy affair. Evident signs of ancient restorations reveal structural failures resulting from intense use or from natural calamities. Chronicles from the Middle Ages report collapses caused by floods and earthquakes. Documentation gives a definite date for the collapsing of the third pylon, which occurred in 1855. During the 1970s reinforcement work was done on the bridge. The surviving arch has suffered damage from recent earthquakes, in particular, the 2000 quake. Restoration work is now in progress.
The bridge was a popular destination on the Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tuto ...
.
James Hakewill
James Hakewill (1778–1843) was an English architect, best known for his illustrated publications.
Life
The second son of John Hakewill, he was brought up as an architect, and exhibited some designs at the Royal Academy. He was collecting mater ...
wrote in ''A picturesque tour of Italy'' (1816–1817):
:There are few relics of antiquity that impress the traveller with greater ideas of Roman magnificence that the sight of this bridge affords... It is built with large blocks of white marble, neatly squared and fitted in, but without any appearance of cement having been used, or even cramps of iron to connect them together.
Hakewill states that a description of the bridge is to be found in ''Roma antiqua et restaurata'' by Biondo, of Forli, 1558 ic and he also quotes from antiquity an epigram of Martial
Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman poet from Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of ''Epigrams'', published in Rome between AD 86 and ...
in which the bridge is mentioned.
The English painter J. M. W. Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbulen ...
made sketches of the bridge in 1819, which are now held by the Tate Gallery
Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
.
The French painter Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; July 16, 1796 – February 22, 1875), or simply Camille Corot, is a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching. He is a pivotal figure in landscape painting and his vast ...
(1796–1875) produced in 1826 the famous painting '' The Bridge at Narni'', which today hangs in the Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
.
Dimensions
Probable width of the four original spans: 19.20m, 32.10m, 18.00m and 16.00m, of which the first, southernmost arch remains standing.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 ...
On June 15, 2021, DeFi protocol Umbria network announced the development of its Narni blockchain bridge named after the location of the Bridge of Augustus.
References
External links
* * * {{Authority control Roman bridges in Italy Deck arch bridges Stone bridges in Italy Bridges completed in the 1st century BC Roman sites of Umbria