The Alcántara Bridge (also known as Trajan's Bridge at Alcantara) is a
Roman bridge at
Alcántara
Alcántara () is a municipality in the province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain, on the Tagus, near Portugal. The toponym is from the Arabic word ''al-Qanṭarah'' (القنطرة) meaning "the bridge".
History
Archaeological findings have atte ...
, in
Extremadura
Extremadura ( ; ; ; ; Fala language, Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is a landlocked autonomous communities in Spain, autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, Spain, Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central- ...
,
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
. Alcántara is from the
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
word ''al-Qantarah'' (القنطرة) meaning "the arch". The stone
arch bridge
An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its structural load, loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either si ...
was built over the
Tagus River between 104 and 106 AD by an order of the
Roman emperor Trajan
Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...
in 98.
History
The Alcántara Bridge has suffered more damage from war than from the elements over the years. The
Moors
The term Moor is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages.
Moors are not a s ...
destroyed one of the smallest arches in 1214 although this was rebuilt centuries later, in 1543, with stone taken from the original quarries. The second arch on the northwest side was then later destroyed in 1760 by the
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
to stop the
Portuguese advancing and was repaired in 1762 by
Charles III
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms.
Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...
, only to be blown up again in 1809 by
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
's forces attempting to stop the
French. Temporary repairs were made in 1819, but much of the bridge was destroyed yet again in 1836 by the
Carlists. The bridge was rebuilt in 1860 using
mortared masonry.
And following completion of the
José María de Oriol Dam, which allowed for the draining of the Tagus riverbed, the main pillars were completely repaired in 1969.
The bridge originally measured in length, which today is reduced to .
The clear spans of the six arches from the right to the left riverside are , , , , and .
Construction
The bridge's construction occurred in the
ancient Roman
In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...
province of
Lusitania
Lusitania (; ) was an ancient Iberian Roman province encompassing most of modern-day Portugal (south of the Douro River) and a large portion of western Spain (the present Extremadura and Province of Salamanca). Romans named the region after th ...
. In ancient Rome, the costs of building and repairing bridges, known as ("bridge work"), were the responsibility of multiple
local municipalities. Their shared costs prove Roman bridges belonged to the region overall, and not to any one town (or two, if on a border). The Alcántara Bridge was built at the expense of 12 local municipalities in Lusitania. The names were added on an inscription on the archway over the central
pier
A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of water and usually juts out from its shore, typically supported by piling, piles or column, pillars, and provides above-water access to offshore areas. Frequent pier uses include fishing, b ...
.
Gallery
File:Puente_de_Alc%C3%A1ntara_tomada_desde_la_muralla_de_Alc%C3%A1ntara.JPG,
File:Bridge Alcantara.JPG,
Blick ueber die Bruecke von Alcantara.jpg, Looking south, in the background the small temple with Lacer's grave
Templo Romano dedicado a Trajano (Alcántara, Cáceres, España) , vista frontal..JPG, The entrance of the temple with the crypt of the Roman engineer
See also
*
List of Roman bridges
This is a list of Roman bridges. The Roman Empire, Romans were the world's first major bridge builders. The following constitutes an attempt to list all known surviving remains of Roman bridges.
A Roman bridge in the sense of this article in ...
*
Roman temple of Alcántara
*
Alcántara Dam
References
Further reading
*
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External links
*
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Video of the bridgeVideo of Alcántara
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alcantara Bridge
Roman bridges in Spain
Deck arch bridges
Stone bridges in Spain
Bridges over the Tagus
Bridges in Extremadura
Trajan