|
Postcards from Pont du Gard  Information on the Pont du Gard to be added to this guide  04/06/20
The Pont du Gard, Nimes, 220 km by motorway via Montpellier. The limestone hills north of the Camargue form the final fold of the Massif Central. At the western fringe of Provence, these secret sun scorched hills conceal tiny stone villages and the ancient duchy of Uzes. Cutting a deep wooded gorge through the scented hills the River Gardon slips between the graceful arches of the mighty Pont du Gard one of the region's Roman masterpieces and designated UNESCO World Heritage site. The Pont du Gard is just part of a 50km long aqueduct which in Roman times carried water from the source of the River Eure near Uzes to Nimes. It is arguably the most impressive section, a testimony to the Romans enormous engineering expertise and is the largest surviving section of the aquaduct. Necessary to carry the aqueduct across the Gardon, the bridge was built by the son of the Emperor Augustus; it is 273 metres long and 48 metres high with 3 tiers of arches. The lower level carried traffic, and was added to in 1743 to accommodate carriages whilst the top level carried the water. This conduit is supported by 35 arches and has a gradient of just 0.4% the difference in altitude between the source of the water and Nimes is just 17 metres which means the inclination was only 34 centimetres per kilometre. The aqueduct took over a century to build and was finally completed in the first century around 50AD. 
2.5 hour drive from Limoux Please add to this page by sending to us information and photos of your experiences in an email. |