Landmark Europe
Pont du Gard
The Pont du Gard is a very old stone bridge in France. Long ago, it carried water over a river, not people!
The Pont du Gard is a Roman bridge in southern France that carried an aqueduct, a channel for water, across the Gardon River. Built about 2,000 years ago, it has three levels of arches and stands almost 49 meters high. Water once flowed along its top on its way to the city of Nîmes.
The Pont du Gard is the major element of a 50.02 km Roman aqueduct that brought water from the Eure spring near Uzès to Nîmes, the Roman colony of Nemausus. A three-level aqueduct bridge almost 48.77 m high, it carried the water channel across the Gardon River, and UNESCO calls it a masterpiece of Roman technique and a World Heritage Site since 1985.
Photo: Benh LIEU SONG (Flickr), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover the Pont du Gard
The Pont du Gard is in France. It has three rows of arches, one on top of another.
Long ago, water flowed along its very top!
The Pont du Gard stands in southern France, over the Gardon River. It is part of an aqueduct: a long channel built to carry water from one place to another.
The Romans built the aqueduct to bring water to the city of Nîmes. Where the channel had to cross the river valley, they built this bridge, almost 49 meters high, with three levels of arches. The water ran along the top level.
UNESCO describes the Pont du Gard as the major element of a 50.02 km aqueduct that supplied Nîmes, the ancient Roman colony of Nemausus, with water from the Eure spring near Uzès. The three-level aqueduct bridge, rising to almost 48.77 m, let the water channel cross the Gardon River.
It rests on a rocky base cut by the river, which flows under its main arch. UNESCO calls it an outstanding example of bridges built in ancient times and says it has been considered one of the major accomplishments of Roman civilization since the 16th century.
- Where
- over the Gardon River, Occitanie, France
- Height
- almost 48.77 m, on three levels
- Aqueduct
- 50.02 km long, from near Uzès to Nîmes
- World Heritage
- inscribed 1985
Water for a Roman city
The Romans built this bridge about 2,000 years ago.
Later, the water stopped flowing. People used the bridge to walk across instead.
The Romans built the Pont du Gard about 2,000 years ago to carry water to Nîmes. The aqueduct stopped working around the beginning of the 6th century, and water never flowed across the bridge again.
In the Middle Ages, the bridge lost many stones, and a path was made so people and animals could cross. In 1746, a road bridge was built right against its lowest level.
UNESCO's statement places the aqueduct in the middle of the 1st century AD (its older short description says shortly before the start of the Common Era). The aqueduct of Nîmes ceased to function around the beginning of the 6th century, and the bridge never regained its original use.
In the Middle Ages it lost many stones, including 12 arches of the upper arcade, and it was adapted for people and animals: a path was built and the second-level piers were cut back by half their thickness, threatening its stability. The piers were repaired in 1699–1702, and in 1746 the engineer Henri Pitot built a road bridge attached to the first level, matching it as closely as he could to the Roman work.
Three levels of arches
The bottom and middle rows have big arches. The top row has lots of small arches.
The builders cut and stacked huge blocks of stone.
The Pont du Gard has three levels of arches of different sizes. The main lower arch, over the river, is 24.52 meters wide, wider than the 21.87-meter arches at the ends, which helps floodwater flow through. Stone 'lips' in front of the piers help them stand up to high water.
The first two levels are made of large stone blocks. The top level is built of small stones that hold the flat slabs of the water channel.
Its three levels of arches are of unequal size, and the lower arches are built of side-by-side rings of voussoirs (arch stones) carved with positioning marks. UNESCO explains the design as an adaptation to the Gardon's sudden, powerful floods: 'lips' in front of the piers resist high water, and the main lower arch spans 24.52 m instead of the 21.87 m of the end arches, which eases the flow.
The first two levels are built of large stone blocks; the upper level uses small stone rubble that holds the abutting flagstones of the canal. The bridge's slightly curved layout and the gentle, symmetrical tapering of its arches give it what UNESCO calls an extraordinarily airy look for so large a work.
Marks from Roman builders
You can still see marks from the builders' tools on the stones!
Some stones even have numbers and letters on them.
The stones of the Pont du Gard still show marks from the tools of the Roman quarry workers and stonecutters. Some stones also carry numbers and letters that showed where each block belonged, like a giant building kit.
The quarry where the stones were cut is still there, about 600 meters away. UNESCO gives two lengths for the top level: 360 meters in its full statement and 275 meters in its short description.
UNESCO calls the Pont du Gard one of the properties with the richest information on early Roman imperial building methods: the dressed stone still bears the marks of the quarrymen's and stonecutters' tools, and some blocks carry figures and letters coding their place in the assembly. The quarry that supplied the stone survives about 600 m from the site.
UNESCO's statement says the longest level, at the very top, measured 360 m; its short description gives the longest level as 275 m.
- Main lower arch
- 24.52 m (end arches 21.87 m)
- Top level
- 360 m in UNESCO's statement; 275 m in its short description
- Quarry
- about 600 m from the bridge
Over the Gardon
In this photo, the golden bridge stands high above a green river. Can you count the small arches on top?
This photo was taken on 11 June 2014 from above the river. The golden stone bridge crosses the Gardon, with green trees on both sides and white rocks along the water.
Today visitors can explore a museum about the aqueduct and, on a guided tour, cross the top level where water flowed in Roman times.
The photograph (11 June 2014, by Benh Lieu Song, a Wikimedia Commons featured picture) shows the full three-level structure over the Gardon, with the 1746 road deck along the lowest level, the river in the gorge below and pale rocks on the banks.
The Pont du Gard has been a listed historical monument since 1840, and since 2003 a public cultural body has managed the site. Its discovery spaces include a 2,500 m² museum, and guided tours cross the third level, where water once flowed.
Amazing facts
-
The stones have numbers and letters on them!
Some blocks of the Pont du Gard carry numbers and letters that showed builders where each one belonged.
Coding with figures and letters on some blocks shows their position in the Roman assembly plan.
-
The stones came from a quarry very close by!
The quarry where the bridge's stones were cut is still there, about 600 meters away.
The quarry from which the stones were extracted is preserved some 600 m from the site.
-
Today you can walk where the water used to flow!
On a guided tour, visitors can cross the top level of the bridge, where water flowed in Roman times.
Guided tours cross the third level of the monument, where the aqueduct's water flowed during the Roman era.
Words to know
- aqueduct
- a channel built to carry water a long way, sometimes on a bridge
- arch
- a curved shape that holds up a bridge or a doorway
- pier
- a thick post that holds up a bridge between its arches
- quarry
- a place where stone is cut out of the ground
- flood
- when a river rises and water spreads over the land
- Romans
- people of ancient Rome, who built roads, bridges and cities across a large empire
Discovery challenge
-
What did the Pont du Gard carry over the river?
What did the top of the Pont du Gard carry across the Gardon River?
What did the Pont du Gard carry across the Gardon as part of the aqueduct to Nîmes?
- Water
- Trains
- Cars
Show the answer
Water
Water!
Water, in a channel along its top level.
The water channel of the 50.02 km aqueduct.
-
How many rows of arches does the bridge have?
How many levels of arches does the Pont du Gard have?
How many arcades of unequal size make up the Pont du Gard?
- 3
- 1
- 10
Show the answer
3
Three rows!
Three levels.
Three, of unequal dimensions.
-
Who built the Pont du Gard?
Which ancient people built the Pont du Gard?
Whose engineers built the aqueduct that supplied the colony of Nemausus?
- The Romans
- The Vikings
- The Aztecs
Show the answer
The Romans
The Romans!
The Romans, about 2,000 years ago.
Roman engineers and builders.
-
Which city got water from this bridge?
Which city did the aqueduct bring water to?
Which city, the Roman Nemausus, did the aqueduct supply?
- Nîmes
- London
- Cairo
Show the answer
Nîmes
Nîmes, in France!
Nîmes.
Nîmes, the Roman colony of Nemausus.
-
What can you still see on the stones?
What can visitors still see on the Pont du Gard's stones?
What survives on the dressed stone that tells us how it was built?
- Marks from builders' tools
- Paintings of animals
- Electric lights
Show the answer
Marks from builders' tools
Marks from the builders' tools!
Tool marks, and on some stones numbers and letters.
Quarrymen's and stonecutters' tool marks and assembly codes.
Nearby places
-
Watch
City
Marseille
Marseille is a port city on France's Mediterranean coast. Greeks from Phocaea founded it about 600 BC, around a sheltered inlet that is now the Old Port. White limestone hills rise along its coast, inside the Calanques National Park. INSEE's 2023 census counted 886,040 people in the city.
-
Watch
Landmark
Millau Viaduct
The Millau Viaduct is a motorway bridge in southern France that crosses the wide valley of the Tarn River. Its road is about 300 meters above the river, as high as the Eiffel Tower is tall. It was designed by the architect Norman Foster and the engineer Michel Virlogeux, and it opened in December 2004.
-
Watch
City
Lyon
Lyon is a city in France where two rivers, the Rhône and the Saône, meet below two hills. The Romans founded it more than 2,000 years ago, and its old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Lumière brothers worked on their movie camera, the Cinematograph, in Lyon. About 519,000 people lived in the city in 2023.
-
Watch
City
Nice
Nice is a French city on the Mediterranean coast, near the border with Italy. It began as a Greek trading post about 350 BCE and became part of France in 1860. France's statistics office, INSEE, gives it 357,737 people in its 2023 census figures.
-
Watch
Natural wonder
Mont Blanc
Mont Blanc is the highest peak in the Alps, on the border of France and Italy. Its snowy top changes height a little from year to year: in September 2026, French surveyors measured it at 4,807.47 meters. People first climbed it in 1786, and today a long tunnel runs right underneath it.
-
Watch
Natural wonder
Matterhorn
The Matterhorn is a 4,478-meter mountain in the Alps, on the border between Switzerland and Italy. Its rock was pushed up when Africa moved toward Europe, and glaciers later carved its steep sides into a pyramid shape. Climbers first reached its top on 14 July 1865.
-
Watch
Landmark
Sagrada Família
The Sagrada Família is a huge church in Barcelona, Spain, designed by the architect Antoni Gaudí. Building began in 1882 and is still going on. In February 2026 its tallest tower was finished at 172.5 meters, making it the tallest church in the world.
-
Watch
Landmark
Park Güell
Park Güell is a park in Barcelona, Spain, designed by the architect Antoni Gaudí. It was first planned as a garden estate of about 60 houses, but only two were built, and in 1926 it opened as a city park. Its stairway, hall of columns and benches are decorated with tile-shard mosaics.
Explore next
-
Watch
Country
France
France is a country in northwestern Europe, between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. It has high mountains such as the Alps and the Pyrenees, long rivers such as the Loire and the Seine, and about 69.1 million people (2026). Its capital is Paris.
-
Watch
Landmark
Millau Viaduct
The Millau Viaduct is a motorway bridge in southern France that crosses the wide valley of the Tarn River. Its road is about 300 meters above the river, as high as the Eiffel Tower is tall. It was designed by the architect Norman Foster and the engineer Michel Virlogeux, and it opened in December 2004.
-
Watch
Landmark
Colosseum
The Colosseum in Rome is an ancient Roman amphitheater, an oval arena with seats all around. Built between about 70 and 80 CE, it held about 50,000 people, who came to watch shows. Today it is one of Rome's major tourist attractions.
-
Watch
Landmark
Aqueduct of Segovia
The Aqueduct of Segovia is a Roman aqueduct in central Spain that carried water into the city of Segovia. Built about 2,000 years ago from big granite blocks set without mortar, it crosses the city on two tiers of arches up to about 28 meters high. It is the symbol of Segovia.
-
Watch
Landmark
Charles Bridge
Charles Bridge crosses the Vltava River in Prague, the capital of Czechia. It was begun in 1357 under Charles IV and finished in 1402, and it is made of sandstone blocks. Towers guard both ends, 30 statues and statue groups stand along its walls, and today it is a bridge for people on foot.
-
Watch
Landmark
Aachen Cathedral
Aachen Cathedral in western Germany grew around the Palatine Chapel, the chapel of Emperor Charlemagne's palace, built around the year 800 with eight sides and a dome. A tall Gothic choir with very tall windows, called the Glass House, was added from 1355 to 1414. German kings were crowned here until 1531, and in 1978 it became a World Heritage Site.
-
Watch
Landmark
Acropolis of Athens
The Acropolis is a steep, flat-topped rock in the middle of Athens. Walls have ringed its top for more than 3,300 years. In the 400s BCE, the Athenians built a grand gateway and three temples there, including the Parthenon. Restorers are still repairing them today.
-
Watch
Landmark
Afsluitdijk
The Afsluitdijk is a dike 32 kilometers long in the Netherlands. It runs between the provinces of North Holland and Friesland and closes off the IJsselmeer lake from the Wadden Sea. Its last gap was closed on 28 May 1932, and for more than 90 years it has helped protect a large part of the country from floods.
For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Explain what an aqueduct is and why the Romans built the Pont du Gard.
- Describe how arches and stone blocks make a strong bridge that can survive floods.
- Compare the bridge's numbers (48.77 m, 24.52 m, 50.02 km) with distances children know.
Recommended ages: 4 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Why would a city 2,000 years ago need a long channel to bring water from far away?
- The builders marked stones with numbers and letters. How do instructions help when many people build something together?
- People took stones from the bridge in the Middle Ages. Why is it important to protect old buildings today?
Try at home or in class
- Build an aqueduct from a cardboard tube cut in half, held up on books, and pour water to see how a gentle slope makes it flow.
- Make arches from folded paper or cardboard strips and stack them in three levels like the Pont du Gard.
Key vocabulary: aqueduct, arch, pier, quarry, flood, Romans
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- UNESCO World Heritage List , UNESCO World Heritage Centre (Linked as a reference; site facts come from Wikidata)
- Pont du Gard (Roman Aqueduct) (World Heritage List) , UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- FAQ , Pont du Gard
- File:Pont du Gard BLS.jpg , Wikimedia Commons
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated November 1, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.