Pont del Diable

Pont del Diable (Devil's Bridge)
Pont del Diable, with the Roman arch at left
Coordinates	41°28′30″N 1°56′16″E
Crosses	Llobregat
Locale	Martorell-Castellbisbal, Catalonia, Spain
Characteristics
Design	Arch bridge
Material	Stone
Longest span	37.3 m
History
Construction end	1283
Location

Devil's Bridge among the modern overpasses

The Pont del Diable (Spanish: Puente del Diablo, English: Devil's bridge), also known as Sant Bartomeu Bridge, is a medieval bridge crossing the river Llobregat and straddling the municipalities of Martorell and Castellbisbal in Catalonia, Spain. The bridge is restricted to pedestrians.

The present bridge, featuring a large pointed arch, is a 1965 reconstruction of the gothic bridge built in 1283 on Roman foundations. The main clear span is 37.3 metres (122 ft) with a stone chapel on top. A secondary arch has a span of 19.1 metres (63 ft). The bridge was destroyed in 1939 during the Spanish Civil War by retreating Republican troops, but rebuilt in 1965 in a form generally similar to the gothic structure. It is now surrounded on three sides by road flyovers and railway lines.

The original Roman bridge formed a part of the Via Augusta, and was the only bridge in the lower Llobregat valley until the 14th century. It still features a Roman triumphal arch at its eastern abutment. It is unclear how many spans the original Roman bridge had.

See also

• List of Roman bridges

Sources

• O’Connor, Colin (1993), Roman Bridges, Cambridge University Press, pp. 102f., ISBN 0-521-39326-4