Wandering
across Languedoc in search of the Romans it comes as no surprise that they were
here for 600 years. It can feel as though they never actually went away. Their
monuments feats still dominate our landscape and several of our cities:
bridges, aqueducts, amphitheaters, temples, bath and stretches of road that
bisect the countryside. Their amphitheaters are perfect bullfights, their
theatres for concerts and operas, while their roads are the basis of the ones
we drive on today.
Much of the
Romans’ genius lay in discovering ways of making water do exactly that they
wanted.
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Nîmes began
to develop noticeably. The population was growing and needed water. The Pont du
Gard is the most famous example, yet a less-known testimony to their skills is
hidden away in the city of Nîmes itself, known as the Castellum. The Castellum
was the final piece in a breathtaking feat of engineering which brought water 50
kilometers from springs further north, in Uzès, via the Pont du Gard, with a
drop of no more than 12 meters from source to city – under 20 cm the kilometer!
The bridge
that we see today, boldly bestriding the river Gard, is the most majestic part
of that wonderful work which has remained almost of the 3rd century
but was repaired many times, during the last century it was still in use as
pedestrian bridge.
It is a
wonderful example, not only from a technical point of view, but also from an
aesthetic one, for the delicate color of the stone and for the elegance and
originality of its construction. For this reason many artists, writers, poets
and painters have immortalized it.
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In other
word, stone by stone, arch by arch, this tiny differential needed to be
accurately calculated and measured with equipment about as sophisticated as a
child’s ruler and piece of string. The Romans truly made engineering an art
from.
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