One of the best preserved Roman aqueducts to our time is located in Segovia to the northwest from Madrid. Despite the initial dating for the first century CE in 2016 some researches (analysing finds from 1998) were added, which point to completion of a building in first decades of second century during the reign of Trajan or Hadrian. Any bronze letters, which could inform us about construction date or constructor’s name haven’t been preserved.





A restored fragment of the Segovia aqueduct.

Aqueduct’s construction based on granite blocks; it was made without use of mortar. Building consists 5 straight sections with a total lenght of 17 km. On considerable lenght aqueduct consists of single arches, only on the last highest section the second layer was added. During the centuries aqueduct played its role well. In the fifteenth century building was renovated few times with some small changes within its constuction.

On the last section some niches were placed in which from sixteenth century we can find sculptures of the Blessed Virgin and St.Stephan. Initially one of them presented Hercules – the legendary founder of Segovia.

Archers on the initial section of aqueduct were modified during the first renovation focused on damages done by Moors. During futher reconstructions renovators tried to be as close to the original as possible.

In 1985 building was put on UNESCO’s World Heritage list.

One of the niches in the Segovia aqueduct, in which from the 16th century there is an image of the Mother of God and St. Stephen.

Details:

Width at the widest point of the base – 3 m.

Width at the highest point – 28, 5 m

Slope of the building – 1 %

Amount of arches – 167