Amoreira Aqueduct

A dry town

Elvas needed water, so a 16th-century aqueduct was planned

By around 1498 the only source of drinking water was the Poço de Alcalá, and the well had begun drying up. The idea developed to collect water from Amoreira, some 8 kilometres away. The first works began in 1529.

Slow money

The work stopped and started for lack of funds from 1529 to 1622

King John III sent the architect Francisco de Arruda to Elvas in 1537. Funds were short, so money came from fines, land sales and loans. Work was suspended in 1547 and restarted in 1571. The aqueduct and the Fonte da Misericórdia were inaugurated on 23 June 1622.

The cistern

Wars put it at risk, and a cistern was built to keep the city supplied

In 1641 John IV authorized the demolition of the aqueduct to build a new fortification. A cistern was proposed so most of the aqueduct could keep working, and a huge one was built beneath Elvas in 1650 under Nicholas de Langres.

The size

The aqueduct has 833 arches along its 7,054 metres

The aqueduct has a length of 7,054 metres from its spring in the Serra do Bispo to the Chafariz do Jardim. In total there are 833 arches, with at most four registers at any one time, supported by rectangular pillars and strengthened by semi-circular and pyramidal buttresses.

833arches in total

Repairs

Repairs between 1872 and 1890 added 462 arches

An earthquake in January 1796 destroyed two arches, which were quickly repaired. Between 1872 and 1890 the aqueduct underwent public works that included a secondary pipe and 462 supplementary arches. In the 1980s it still fed the city of Elvas by way of the cistern.