5 facts about the Pont du Gard to impress your friends

The height of this Roman aqueduct built in the first century AD. A record at the time! Today, it remains the only example of a three-story antique bridge still standing, with three rows of arcades, one on top of the other: 6 arches on the bottom, 11 in the middle, and 35 on top.

The bridge formed part of the Roman aqueduct that carried water from Uzès to Nîmes: 50km of pipes crossed the heath or travelled underground, apart from the stretch at Gardon. The aqueduct had to be built to cross the river, and the upper level today measures 273m long (it originally measured 360m and had 12 further arches).

The colossal structure is as heavy as it looks, at almost 50,000 tonnes. One thousand men laboured for five years to build the titanic structure.

The year 2000 was the beginning of a new chapter for the Pont du Gard. In use until the VI century, then a toll road in the Middle Ages, it served as a road bridge from the 18th to 20th century. A Major Site Initiative was launched in 2000 to return the monument to its original condition, free from the traffic and buildings that had sprung up around it.

A superb underground museum on the Pont du Gard’s left bank provides a fun and educational look back at the fascinating story of how the aqueduct was built, and the role it played in Roman times. There is a total of 4500m² in which to learn about the monument through films, exhibitions, and virtual reconstructions.