Акведуки в Риме и России

Aqueduct

Aims for Aqueducts

Aqueducts or water bridges are bridges for conveying water. They are constructed to convey watercourses across gaps such as valleys or ravines. The term aqueduct may also be used to refer to the entire watercourse, as well as the bridge. Large navigable aqueducts are used as transport links for boats or ships

Ancient bridges for water

Although particularly associated with the Romans, aqueducts were likely first used by the Minoans around 2000 BCE. The Minoans had developed what was then an extremely advanced irrigation system, including several aqueducts.

In the seventh century BCE, the Assyrians built an 80 km long limestone aqueduct, which included a 10 m high section to cross a 300 m wide valley, to carry water to their capital city, Nineveh.

Roman Empire

Bridges were a distinctive feature of Roman aqueducts which were built in all parts of the Roman Empire, from Germany to Africa, and especially in the city of Rome, where they supplied water to public baths and for drinking. Roman aqueducts set a standard of engineering that was not surpassed for more than a thousand years.

Transporting water only due to gravity was very effective: 20,000 cubic meters of water per day passed through the Pont du Gard.

Aqueducts in Russia

The appearance of aqueducts in Russia, as in ancient Rome, was associated with the construction of centralized water supply systems for major cities. The first aqueducts were built along the route of the gravity Mytishchi water supply system built in 1781-1804 in Moscow.

Rostokinsky aqueduct in Moscow