The spring reflections of the Besalú bridge

* The author is part of the community of readers of La Vanguardia.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
12 April 2024 Friday 22:57
5 Reads
The spring reflections of the Besalú bridge

* The author is part of the community of readers of La Vanguardia

I have captured these images for La Vanguardia Readers' Photos of the spring reflections of the medieval bridge of Besalú in the waters of the Fluvià river.

It is an angular bridge with seven unequal arches that are located on top of pillars, many of them in the rock. Above the fifth pillar rises the fortified tower.

The bridge shines and doubles reflected in the waters of the Fluvià River, while Besalú continues to dazzle its visitors. Not in vain, already in 1966, it was declared a Historic-Artistic Site for its great architectural value.

The first information we have about this Romanesque bridge is from the year 1075. At the end of the first section, between the fourth and fifth arches, there is a widening of the road and later, between the sixth and seventh, there is another. The fortified access portal is superimposed on the first pillar of the bridge.

Above the fifth pillar rises the fortified tower, with a hexagonal plan with two superimposed semicircular arches, on the east side, and with a pointed arch and loopholes at the top, on the west side.

On one of the ashlars of the central pillar of the second section, there is a heraldic stone with the date 1680, which suggests a large-scale restoration or even an almost total reconstruction of the bridge.