Segovia's Roman Aqueduct

A bit of water, moving both horizontally and vertically

Rain was falling (vertically) when we met today to learn about the aqueduct at the center of Segovia.  Designed to move water (horizontally) from the Río Frío about 9 miles from the edge of Segovia to all of the original walled-in city of Segovia, including the palace on the opposite side of the city known as el Alcázar, the aqueduct was designed and built by the Romans towards the end of the first century c.e. or the beginning of the second century.  It runs underground for many miles before it is visible, running at a constant slope of one degree over 167 arches before going back underground just inside the walls of the old section of the city.

According to legend, the aqueduct was built when a woman, tired of walking miles into the mountains each day for water, made a deal with the devil.  The devil came to her one night offering to make an aqueduct that very night.  If he finished before the first rooster crowed, she would give him her soul in exchange.  The legions of demons worked all night, but as they were putting the last stone in place, the rooster crowed and the women kept her soul.  In place of the last stone, a statue of the Virgin of Fuencisla, the patroness of Segovia, was erected in the niche.  If the devil did build the aqueduct, however, he was at least heavily influenced by the Romans, as can be seen in the half-circle arches and the lack of mortar between the stones.  A keen eye might notice the arches in the first photo are not semicircular, but come to a point at the top.  These are among the 36 arches at the beginning of the visible aqueduct that were destroyed during an Arab attack.  They were rebuilt later in the Gothic style, as that was believed to be an improvement on the original Roman architecture.

Luckily for our little walking tour, it wasn't raining hard enough to get the water really flowing in the aqueduct, as you can see in this photo of the channel on top of the aqueduct as it leads into the second filtration station built by the Romans to ensure the water was not dirty.  Tomorrow we will be spending some time indoors, so hopefully we'll be a little dryer!