Art and culture
Los Milagros Roman Aqueduct
This partially preserved massive aqueduct was one of the large works at Emerita Augusta for supplying water to the city.
A masterpiece of Roman engineering
Location and Contact:
- Contact person: Oficina de Turismo de Mérida
- Tel.:+34 924 33 07 22
- Email: info@turismomerida.org
- Website address: www.turismomerida.org
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This partially preserved massive aqueduct was one of the large works at Emerita Augusta for supplying water to the city.
Mérida, called Emerita Augusta during Roman times, received water from the Proserpina reservoir, where we can still admire the Roman dam nowadays, through this colossal aqueduct that crossed the Albarregas River and led to the urban network.
It is known as the “Los Milagros” (Miracles) aqueduct on account of the admiration that its magnificence inspired in visitors. Nowadays, eight hundred metres of aqueduct are preserved, with columns that are up to twenty-seven metres high, on which white storks nest every year.
One of the singular factors of this construction is the combination of two materials: granite and red brick, that create a nice colour combination and that, as the story goes, were an inspiration for masterpieces of Hispanic-Moslem caliphal art.
The aqueduct is surrounded by an extensive area of greenery which is pleasant for walking and doing sports. Nearby, we can admire another Roman work, the bridge over the Albarregas River, which is not very long and has a nice dressed façade, which marked the northern exit from the city by the famous Silver Way. -
- Origin:
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- Romanisation (BC)
- Construction:
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- Aqueduct
- Art period:
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- Romanisation
Gallery:
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