Roman bridge over the Albarregas
A Roman bridge over the river Albarregas, at the northern exit of Augusta Emerita (Mérida), beside the Los Milagros aqueduct, which runs parallel to it. Built in the late 1st century BC, in the reign of Augustus, in the same phase as the great bridge over the Guadiana.
- Type
- Bridge
- Preservation
- Standing
- Protection
- Listed · RI-51-0000111
- Listed
- 13/12/1912
- Coordinates
- 38.92346, -6.34918
- Photographs
- 6
What it is and what is left
It marked the point where the main street of the city left town: from here started the Vía de la Plata, which linked Baetica with the north of Hispania as far as Asturica Augusta (Astorga), and the route towards Olisipo (Lisbon) branched off.
It is some 145 m long, 7.9 m wide and about 6.5 m high on average. Four round arches in rusticated granite ashlar (Augustan rustication) over a core of opus caementicium, with relief openings. The parapet and cornice were altered in the 19th century when it was adapted for motor traffic. In good condition, and still passable.
National monument (1912); part of the Archaeological Ensemble of Mérida, World Heritage (UNESCO, 1993). Its importance: the colony's original northern approach and the head of the Vía de la Plata.
What each period left here
It reads downwards: each band is a period with fabric in this site, newest first, deepest last.
3 facts
6 photographs
Roman
This site has fabric from this period. Mérida has 57 more sites built in the same layer.
See the whole layer →The Vía de la Plata started from this bridge, the road that ran up to Astorga: anyone leaving Mérida northwards crossed its first metres here.
Puente romano sobre el río Albarregas — WikipediaThe rusticated voussoirs of its four arches are the signature of the period: that finish was very common in public works in the time of Augustus, when it was built, in the late 1st century BC.
Puente romano sobre el río Albarregas — WikipediaIt is the least altered of the city's Roman bridges: two thousand years of repairs have left it almost intact, while its big brother over the Guadiana lost and regained arches with every flood.
Puente romano sobre el río Albarregas — Wikipedia
Below the deepest layer of each site is the ground itself: what has not been excavated yet, or what left nothing built. The catalogue only claims what is documented.
A short walk from here
Straight-line distances, worked out from the coordinates of each site.
Where this page comes from
- Puente romano sobre el Albarregas — Consorcio de Mérida consorciomerida.org