THIS MAGNIFICENT six-arched Spanish bridge, Puente Trajan, spans the Tagus at Alcantara (“the bridge”) and its builder, Caius Julius Lacer, matched the ruggedness of the gorge in which he worked in 105 AD. This and many other notable bridges are illustrated and described in “A Span of Bridges,” by Professor H. J. Hopkins. It is one of the outstanding examples of Roman civil engineering; Lacer inscribed the triumphal arch, one of its few architectural features, with a confident forecast that it would remain for ever. Twice, parts of the bridge have been blown up—once by Spain’s allies in 1809 in an effort to arrest the French Army. Later, Wellington crossed the broken arch on planks suspended from ship cables. When the arch was replaced in 1860 its stones, unlike those of the other arches, were joined with mortar.

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32406, 19 September 1970, Page 10

THIS MAGNIFICENT six-arched Spanish bridge, Puente Trajan, spans the Tagus at Alcantara (“the bridge”) and its builder, Caius Julius Lacer, matched the ruggedness of the gorge in which he worked in 105 AD. This and many other notable bridges are illustrated and described in “A Span of Bridges,” by Professor H. J. Hopkins. It is one of the outstanding examples of Roman civil engineering; Lacer inscribed the triumphal arch, one of its few architectural features, with a confident forecast that it would remain for ever. Twice, parts of the bridge have been blown up—once by Spain’s allies in 1809 in an effort to arrest the French Army. Later, Wellington crossed the broken arch on planks suspended from ship cables. When the arch was replaced in 1860 its stones, unlike those of the other arches, were joined with mortar.