Wednesday 22 July 2009

A is for...


Aquaduct

I came across this aquaduct while I was in Italy last year. I'm not even really sure whether it was a real one, but it sure looked like one. I found it in Garda, a small village on Lake Garda in the north of the country.

Aquaducts were made by the Romans to provide them with fresh water. Especially if water had to come from further afield, this was a perfect solution. It would stay cool and fresh and because it would come from higher up, it would take longer to run out of water, even after water supplies had dried up in the valleys.

Most aquaducts have long since disappeared. The stones used after the Romans left to make houses and other buildings, the technology gone with the stones. However, new aquaducts have appeared. In the Netherlands, several rivers and canals in Fryslân (north of the country) have been turned into aquaducts. Not to provide us with fresh water, but to relieve (motorway) traffic from having to stop every time a sail boat would pass.

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8 comments:

  1. That's a perfect picture for "A" I like the aging look and how the ivy grows around it.

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  2. Interesting photo of an aqueduct and a history of them. I didn't know new ones are being built.

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  3. What a great A...and interesting info

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  4. This is a wonderful beginning of our next round! And so interesting that you found this bit of antiquity on your own. The whole aquaduct invention is amazing.
    Happy Wednesday!

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  5. Certainly looks like an aquaduct to me! The Romans were so inventive with domestic conveniences, weren't they? And they certainly built things to last!

    I must get to Italy some day and see such things for myself!

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  6. A
    IS FOR
    A GREAT BIG THANK YOU FOR YOUR FUN BLOG THAT I LOVE READING!

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  7. What an interesting find. Aqueducts and roads were instrumental to the Roman Empire.

    An Arkies Musings

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  8. That's perfect and a very interesting subject! Thanks for visiting mine :-)

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