Roman bridge of Salamanca: Difference between revisions

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The Roman bridge of Salamanca

The Roman bridge of Salamanca, also known as Puente Mayor del Tormes is a Roman bridge crossing the Tormes River on the banks of the city of Salamanca (Castile and León, Spain). The importance of the bridge as a symbol of the city can be seen in the first quartering of city's coat of arms (along with its stone bull-verraco.) Has been known traditionally as puente mayor and as puente prinçipal (main bridge) which gives access to the southern part of the city. The bridge is presented in 21th century as a result of several restorations, one of the disasters that most affected it was the Flood of San Policarpo (January 26's night) of year 1626. It is declared Artistic Historic Monument on June 3 1931, and Bien de Interés Cultural since 1998. Until beginning of 20th century does not lose its status single pass of access to the city, and for many years continues to bear the heavy traffic. From the construction of a third bridge for road traffic it remains a unique way of pedestrian and walking use.

Actually it is a construction of two separated bridges by a central fortification: the old bridge which extends along the portion near the city (it is called puente vieja) and it is of Roman origin, and the new bridge (called puente hispana). Of the twenty-six arches, only the first fifteen date from Roman times. The stone used in its construction differs in origin, while employed in Roman bridge area is originally from the granite quarries of Los Santos (Béjar), the stone used in the hispana part and more modern bridge, comes from the area of ​​Ledesma. The bridge has been restored on numerous occasions and has survived several attempts demolition. Many of the restorations have been poorly documented, leaving for the study of archaeologists great part of the work of determination, dating and explanation of the construction techniques of the ancient. The date of the construction of the bridge not is precisely known, but is among the mandates of the Emperors Augustus (27 a. C.-14 d. C.) and Vespasian (69-79), making it an bimillennium architectural monument.

History

The history of the bridge is connected to the city and is part of its most characteristic monuments along with the two cathedrals, the La Clerecía, Plaza Mayor, Casa de las Conchas. Formerly, there was a popular belief that the bridge was first built by Heracles and later was rebuilt by the Roman Emperor Trajan. the basis for the theory that it was Trajan its builder, reports Gil González Dávila in 1606, it is a tombstone found at the time, but actually refers to a repair of the Vía de la Plata. In 1767, it found in the first arcade a plate box and within a medal in honor to Heracles, the Salamancan chronicler Bernardo Dorado realizes this in his Compendio Histórico de la Ciudad de Salamanca. This meeting reinforced the popular idea that without scientific basis has remained in popular sayings. Nevertheless, subsequent historical research mention that the bridge was built in the second half of 1st century. Born as a need to provide crossing Tormes River by travelers on the Vía de la Plata linking Mérida and Astorga ( Iter ab Emerita Asturicam).