The Pont du Gard,
a mythical place :
The site is open year round, 7 days a week. Access to the bridge is free. Location: 27 km from Nîmes, 21 km from Avignon The Pont du Gard is located between Remoulins (RN100) and Vers-Pont du Gard (D81). When coming by the A9 motorway, take exit 23 at Remoulins (direction Uzès) and follow the signs along the left or right bank. Web site: www.pontdugard.fr






An impressive 2,500 m² on-site multimedia exhibition reveals all the secrets behind the making of the aqueduct through reconstructions and film. There are also workshops for children.
Rome had over 1,000 baths at the peak of its glory, which makes it easy to understand that the Romans, once they had their hearts set on settling in Nîmes, could not content themselves with the waters from the city's spring alone. In the middle of the 1st century A.D. they went as far as source of the Eure River, near Uzès, in order to find the 20,000 cubic metres of water needed daily for the capital of the Augustan colony. The ancient engineers had to build a succession of bridges and tunnels across the region's topographical irregularities to link it with Nîmes. The resulting aqueduct was over 50 kilometres in length with an overall difference in level of only 17 metres between its highest and lowest points! This undertaking says a great deal about the skill of the builders of this famous structure with its 49 arches. Classified as a world heritage site by UNESCO, it is a world book of records in itself. 275 m long, 49 m high, with some stones measuring over 2 cubic metres, and undoubtedly more than 50,000 tonnes of stones in all... It was built to resist the sudden, violent rises in the river level of the Gardon, which it has been successful in doing over the millennia. Today, the site offers a museum, exhibitions, films, a children's area, a multimedia library for an unforgettable visit.