Ancient World

Ancient bridges over the Loire in the Touraine area

The ancient bridges over the Loire in the Touraine area were wooden structures erected during the Roman Empire to facilitate river navigation close to Fondettes and Tours, then known as Caesarodunum. Two bridges, constructed in the 1st century, appear to have been operational concurrently. The third bridge, erected in the early 4th century when walls enclosed the city, superseded the preceding two bridges, which were subsequently dismantled. The remnants of these bridges, unearthed around the turn of the 21st century, are discernible as lines of stakes embedded in the riverbed. They become visible during periods of low water levels, which are now occurring with greater frequency and duration.

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸El-Khirbe
• ▸Birmingham Museum of Art
• ▸Ahnenerbe

Uncatalogued shelf

Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.