Pont du Gard, France

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The Roman aqueduct of Pont du Gard in the south of France near Avignon is one of the greatest sights in all of ancient history. It's an incredibly impressive structure, in fact, the tallest ancient bridge and the second highest structure the Romans ever built, after the Colosseum in Rome which is just six feet higher.
Pont du Gard is part of an ancient, water channel about 31 miles in length, built mostly on or beneath the ground to carry water to Nimes. The Romans constructed this bridge across the valley about 2,000 years ago to maintain an even flow of water with just a very slight change in level, dropping only about one inch every 300 feet. This engineering miracle is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Three levels of arches hold up the water channel that runs across the top. The tallest arches that Roman engineers ever built are on the bottom. Their buildings relied heavily on the arch, for many interior spaces were differing variations of this critical feature: large rooms were often made with barrel-vaulted ceilings, really a series of arches connected together, and an arch could also be spun around on its axis to form a dome, another important Roman innovation.
Coming all this way to Pont du Gard, you want to fully enjoy the various vistas for a complete appreciation. The paved path from the visitor center affords some decent views, but don't settle for this. Stroll across the bridge, then up a well-marked hillside path to gain access to the aqueduct's upper level where you can actually walk through the canal itself. It is partly open and partly covered, forming a dark tunnel that tall folks will need to stoop to get through. In ancient times it was completely covered over to protect the water. Here you acquire first-hand respect for the amazing engineering skill that created this marvel.
Exiting the aqueduct channel, walk back down slope, then along the stream on the sunny side of the structure for a few hundred yards to get the best possible view looking back toward the soaring masterpiece. Perhaps you'll get lucky and have a calm day with a mirror reflection of the bridge in the river's smooth surface. This is one of the world's most astonishing ancient sights, a marvel inherited from antiquity.
Keep one eye on the clock, for you might want to catch the bus to Avignon, leaving the same traffic circle at 1:22pm and arriving back in Avignon at 2:00pm. You do want that 1:22pm bus because the next one is at 6:45pm, reasonable only if you spent more time in Nimes earlier in the day. Otherwise, it's nice to be back in the great city of Avignon by mid-afternoon to catch up on sights you may have missed, do more shopping, or take a nap to recover from these three intensive days.

Пікірлер: 20

  • @rodmaxwell4191
    @rodmaxwell41914 жыл бұрын

    so impressive this master piece.; incredible how france inherited so many beautiful building through the ages.... very beautiful !!!

  • @Travel2023_
    @Travel2023_8 жыл бұрын

    incredible place pont du gard.......I had lots of fun there

  • @mcfrdmn
    @mcfrdmn11 жыл бұрын

    Fantastic video of Pont du Gard, France

  • @marthamarche7032
    @marthamarche70324 жыл бұрын

    Lovely❤️

  • @lorenpatriciacee
    @lorenpatriciacee11 жыл бұрын

    I super love your videos :)

  • @joseassuncao5598
    @joseassuncao55989 жыл бұрын

    SPLENDIDA VIDEO A PONTE DU GARD ESPECTACULAR HISTORICA PONTE DU GARD NA FRANCA AQUEDUTO ROMANO PATRIMONIO UNESCO BONITO DOCUMENTARIO ,BONITO PASSEIO TURISTICO

  • @vincenzomazzotta8243
    @vincenzomazzotta82438 жыл бұрын

    Non ho avuto la fortuna di vederlo personanalmente, ma è impressionante quello che erano capaci di fare.

  • @angeloargentieri5605
    @angeloargentieri56052 жыл бұрын

    La grandezza,la potenza, la magnificenza e la gloria di Roma è aeterna, Roma invicta et lux mundi...

  • @joseantoniobuitragominano3820
    @joseantoniobuitragominano3820 Жыл бұрын

    I WAS BORN IN NIMES!!!!

  • @gogogecko9260
    @gogogecko92607 жыл бұрын

    how much water again i forgot?

  • @bruceburns1672
    @bruceburns16725 жыл бұрын

    All the aqueduct on both sides has been looted and the only reason that this still exists is because the position would make it too hard for the local thieves to dismantle it , one can only imagine what the Romans built which we will never know about and wasn't recorded and you can see in Rome itself there is only one building that is reasonably intact because the Catholics didn't tear it down like everything else and that is the round Pantheon and you can see the marvelous fit and finish and style of Roman architecture , a race of genius's not equaled till the reformation of Europe .

  • @francinesicard464
    @francinesicard4644 жыл бұрын

    And the feat is that all the stones are joint together without mortar.

  • @bruceburns1672
    @bruceburns16725 жыл бұрын

    They will have one soon in China now they have seen this and will copy it and say that they had one before the Europeans .

  • @ashleeschwartz154
    @ashleeschwartz1542 жыл бұрын

    today with everything electrical#

  • @sirrapis8229
    @sirrapis822910 жыл бұрын

    Without being a survivalist nut, "worlds gonna end stuff". It is a wonder after Christianity came to Rome in 310 CE.and we went in to the dark ages the triumph of superstition as stated by the great Rome biographer Almost everyone became illiterate ,engineering lost to the point old structures were thought build by gods and men lived in huts in the shadow of the buildings. today with everything electrical. how easy would it be to lose all our history ,knowledge ,everything that make humanities now computer based lost? i personally want to be at ground zero rather than live in a world of people who didn't finish high school devoid of every human characteristic that makes us humane, carrying guns and stocking food

  • @haileywilliams1921

    @haileywilliams1921

    6 жыл бұрын

    Very true....but people who are ignorant,WANT to be ignorant.With all the technology and freedom and informaiton we have at our finger tips..some choose to be completely oblivious about so many subjects when people like US actually look for videos like these and we do research and LEARN MORE for hours in the confort of our own home.SO,yeah,people are ignorant because they want to.Today,I know a lot more about South of France or any place in any country because of YOU TUBE,Wikipedia and Google.

  • @Ο_Θετικός

    @Ο_Θετικός

    3 жыл бұрын

    old structures were thought build by gods and men lived in huts in the shadow of the buildings.....you wrote...Look closely my friend...we have 2 TECHNOLOGIES at the scene,an older,stronger,megalithic at the inside where he walks through, and the newest addition to it by the Romans...old structures where indeed build by Giant Gods ...Because they where extinct or left,doesn't mean they didn't live here on earth...THEY LEFT MEGALITHIC FOOTPRINTS ON EVERY CORNER ON THIS EARTH..Do your search and the truth will set you free...Just type megalithic and follow Vlad the Russian,he has the biggest collection in his channel...Greetings from Greece...

  • @Ο_Θετικός
    @Ο_Θετικός3 жыл бұрын

    Folks are you kidding me??The inside where he was ''not allowed'' to visit is prehistoric megalithic and has nothing to do with Romans..The rest sure looks Roman to me, but look at the stone blocks at 03:35...Don't be fooled, here are 2 different technologies at play

  • @josefmaster1188

    @josefmaster1188

    3 жыл бұрын

    hahaha, just a beautiful roman aqueduct, romans moved many obelisks of 300-500 tons from egypt to rome, so this little rocks means nothing to them.

  • @jeromevilleray3386

    @jeromevilleray3386

    Жыл бұрын

    Stop saying bullshits that you don't mastering stupid moron : The "prehistoric megalithic" you spoke is a limewater (calcium hydroxide) with a special red quartz sand with very precise mix and granulometry and high precise iron oxyde for a perfect waterproof of the aqueduc , especialy mastering by ROMANS You are so ridiculous with your fantasy of "megalithic" who are just mental illness and retarded people on internet who think they are more smart and astute than other but in the end : They just debit full bullshits