Pont du Gard, 1

(2 photos)
Each time we have visited the Pont du Gard (Bridge over the Gard River), ten or twelve miles northeast of Nîmes, the weather has been sparkling clear, but even in the rain, it must be an awe-inspiring structure. In 19 BC Marcus Agrippa, a Roman General, constructed this aqueduct to bring water into Nîmes. The three-story 1,000 foot Pont du Gard is the bridge that carried the aqueduct and 44,000,000 gallons of fresh water each day, over the 130 foot deep ravine of the River Gard. This was almost an unbelievable engineering feat. The incline of the bridge and the whole aqueduct from the headwaters to Nimes, was less than two feet per mile. Amazing.
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The aqueduct was built without mortar between the stones (some weighted six tons), and we know engineering codes wouldn’t permit that these days. Of course it’s most likely that structures built under our engineering codes won’t last 2,000 years, either.