Page 137 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Provence & The Côte d'Azur

BOUCHES-DU-RHONE AND NIMES  135

4Pont du Gard
Road map A3. @ Nîmes. n Place des
Grands Jours, Remoulins (04 66 37 22 34).
Open daily. ∑ ot-pontdugard.com
Begun around 19 BC, this
bridge is part of an aqueduct
which transported water from
a spring near Uzès to Roman
Nîmes (see pp136–7). An under­
ground channel, bridges and
tunnels were engineered to
carry the 20 million litre (4.4
million gallon) daily water
supply 50 km (31 miles). The The Pont du Gard, the tallest of all Roman aqueducts at 48 m (158 ft)
three­tiered structure of the
Pont du Gard spans the Gardon Its huge limestone blocks,
valley and was the tallest some as heavy as 6 tonnes,
aqueduct in the Roman empire. were erected without mortar.
The water channel, covered by
stone slabs, was in the top tier
of the three. Skilfully designed
cutwaters ensured that the
bridge has resisted many
violent floods.
It is not known for certain how
long the aqueduct remained
in use but it may still have been
functioning as late as the 9th
century AD. The adjacent road
bridge was erected in the 1700s.
The Site du Pont du Gard has a
Trademark graffiti left by 18th-century museum (open daily in summer) Protruding stones for supporting
masons on the stones tracing the aqueduct’s history. scaffolding during construction
The Remains of the Aqueduct
At Pont du Bornègre the aqueduct
The source of water, at Fontaine emerged from an underground tunnel to
Uzes d’Eure, was only 17 m (56 ft) higher cross this triple­arched bridge. The water
above sea level than the Castellum was then channelled back into a clearly­
at Nîmes. defined tunnel.
At Pont de la Lône an overhead
arcade carries the aqueduct for
400 m (1,320 ft). Leaks have left
D981
large limestone incrustations in
the stonework.
Garrigues de Pont Roupt is a vast bridge, over
Perret D3 255 m (840 ft) long, with 37
surviving arches.
D19
Pont du Gard
0 kilometres 3 The church at St Bonnet
0 miles 3 Garrigues de contains some stones cut
from the aqueduct. Its
Remoulins
vaults imitate the arches
of the Pont du Gard.
Pont du Gard
48m
At Sernhac two tunnels,
D986
each about 60 m (197 ft)
275m A9 long, are accessible
to visitors.
To Nîmes