There are remains of two Roman aqueducts which supplied the Roman city of ''Toletum'' (modern Toledo) in Castile-La Mancha,

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 ...

. The infrastructure carried water from various sources with the main reservoir located at Mazarambroz to the south of the city in the

Montes de Toledo Comarca Montes de Toledo Comarca ( es, Comarca de los Montes de Toledo) is a ''comarca'' located at the southern end of the province of Toledo, Spain. The natural comarca includes some municipal terms in Ciudad Real Province. It is named after the Mo ...

History

The Romans captured Toledo in 193 BC. The aqueducts are difficult to date precisely. They seem to have been built in the 1st or 2nd centuries AD.

Remains

At Mazarambroz there is a ruined Roman dam, known as

Alcantarilla Alcantarilla () is a town and municipality in southeastern Spain, in the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia. The town is only 7 km away from the capital of the region, the city of Murcia, and one of its peculiarities is that it is c ...

, on the Guajaraz, a tributary of the

Tagus 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 ...

. From Mazarambroz the water was conveyed via Layos (where there is a modern dam on the Guajaraz).

Horno de Vidrio

pressure drop Pressure drop is defined as the difference in total pressure between two points of a fluid carrying network. A pressure drop occurs when frictional forces, caused by the resistance to flow, act on a fluid as it flows through the tube. The main de ...

tower, popularly known as the ''Horno de Vidrio'', survives in the final section of the aqueduct. Elsewhere the Romans used drop towers to harness water power for mills, but this structure functioned as a water energy dissipator. The water entered the tower via an arcade. The tower firstly facilitated the aqueduct a less steep path towards Toledo; secondly, it allowed the aqueduct to lose height without excessive slope.

Aqueduct bridge

Only the base of the aqueduct bridge by which water entered Toledo survives. From its position above the Tagus gorge, it has been suggested the Romans used an

inverted siphon A siphon (from grc, σίφων, síphōn, "pipe, tube", also spelled nonetymologically syphon) is any of a wide variety of devices that involve the flow of liquids through tubes. In a narrower sense, the word refers particularly to a tube in a ...

to bring the water into the city. Such technology is known to have been used elsewhere in the Iberian Peninsula, for example

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

, although it is not directly evidenced at Toledo.

Conservation

The remains of the hydraulic system are partly protected by a heritage designation (

Bien de Interés Cultural A Bien de Interés Cultural is a category of the heritage register in Spain. The term is also used in Venezuela and other Spanish-speaking countries. The term literally means a "good of cultural interest" (" goods" in the economic sense) and incl ...

References

External links

El sistema hidraulico romano de abastecimiento a Toledo
{{Tourism in Toledo

Aqueducts Aqueduct may refer to: Structures *Aqueduct (bridge), a bridge to convey water over an obstacle, such as a ravine or valley *Navigable aqueduct, or water bridge, a structure to carry navigable waterway canals over other rivers, valleys, railw ...

Ancient Roman buildings and structures in Toledo, Spain Roman aqueducts outside Rome Aqueducts in Spain Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in the Province of Toledo Water supply of Toledo, Spain