Le Pont du Gard
Roman bridge/ aqueduct
The Pont du Gard is a spectacular well-preserved three tiered Roman aqueduct built over the River Gard (or Gardon). It is a bridge as well as an aqueduct, located 25 kilometers north-east of Nimes in the direction of Avignon.
It preserves original style of the era of Augustus. At almost 50 meters in height it is the tallest the Romans ever constructed. It is part of the aqueduct built around the year 20 BC to transport water over 50 kilometers from the Eure spring near Uzès to the city of Nîmes. As there was only 17m fall from the headwaters at Eure to Nîmes, the incline had to average 0.35mm per metre. The aqueduct is about 300m long and 49m above of the river. The bottom arches have spans of 15.75m to 21.5m, and areabout 155m wide and 20m high. On the top of them is a road (7m wide) which carries modern traffic. The middle arches have the same spans as those on the bottom tier. The lengthis about 265m in total. The height of middle tier is about 21m and its width is 5m. On the top tier 35 small arches, about 8.5m high and 3m wide, support the waterway.
The Pont du Gard is one of several World Heritage sites in the Languedoc. It was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985. The Pont du Gard is visited by more than 1,250,000 tourists every year, making it the 2nd most visited provincial monument in France.
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