Alconétar Bridge, Garrovillas de Alconétar, Spain

The Alconétar Bridge (Puente de Alconétar), also known as Puente de Mantible, was a Roman segmental arch bridge in the Extremadura region, Spain. The ancient structure, which featured flattened arches with a span-to-rise ratio of 4–5:1, is one of the earliest of its kind. Due to its design, it is assumed that the bridge was erected in the early 2nd century AD by the emperors Trajan or Hadrian, possibly under the guidance of Apollodorus of Damascus, the most famous architect of the time.

The almost 300 m long Alconétar Bridge served as a crossing point for the Roman Via de la Plata, the most important north–south connection in western Hispania, over the Tagus, the longest river of the Iberian peninsula. It presumably remained in service until the Reconquista, after which numerous early modern reconstruction attempts by Spanish engineers failed. The ruins, which were mainly to be found on the right river bank, were relocated from their original position in 1970 when the Alcántara reservoir was created.

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Prehistoric and archaeological sites in Spain

User Reviews

sylvain CAMPAN (10 months ago)
Very beautiful ruin of Roman bridge with Inès structure without mortar

Eric Sellekaerts (2 years ago)
How the Romans could make this bridge with heavy weight blocks....but they had a good reason. The "Via The La Plata" or silver Road was a main trade road that linked Sevilla with Merida, Cáseres...Extramadura has so much history

Myroslava Buzova (2 years ago)
A beautiful building in a deserted place. It is interesting to see how they built it before and why the bridge stood for much more than a thousand years. It's easy to get to the bridge from the highway; it won't take much of your time.

Peser (3 years ago)
It must have been a great Roman bridge, even so, the remains that remain are important and allow us to see the great work that the Romans did and thinking that it should last a long time, the photos show its current state and the grandeur of the manufacture, in his style.

CAHTUU (3 years ago)
Since I was little, I have seen it when passing by on my visits to Cáceres, and it has always fascinated me. You can think like the archaeologists that moving it from its original location loses the answer, or you can think that it was better out and in plain sight than hidden and possibly destroyed. I prefer the second

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