Old Bridge of Vilaller

The Old Bridge of Vilaller is an ancient bridge on the river Noguera Ribagorçana, currently in ruins. It is protected as a Bé Cultural d'Interès Local (Local Cultural Heritage site [es]).^[1]

Old Bridge of Vilaller
Coordinates	42.4772343°N 0.7148718°E / 42.4772343; 0.7148718
Crossed	Noguera Ribagorçana
Locale	Vilaller, Alta Ribagorça, Catalonia
Characteristics
Design	Arch bridge
History
Inaugurated	17th century
Collapsed	August 2nd 1963
Location

Description

The bridge is a 17th-century construction that crosses the river Noguera Ribagorçana, linking the main center of Vilaller with the neighbourhood of Aragon located on the right bank of the river.^[2]

The original bridge had three arches, but was damaged during the flood of 1963 and lost two of them.

History

For many years the river was crossed by means of a lever located roughly where the bridge is situated. During the 16th century the village of Vilaller experienced a strong economic growth so that on August 15, 1686, the General Council of Vilaller petitioned to His Majesty Charles II of Spain the permission for building a stone three arched bridge where the lever had been until then. They engaged to build it and keep it.^[3]

Old bridge Vilaller whole

The bridge endured until the flood of August 2, 1963, when the river destroyed two of the three arches.^[4]

For some time, makeshift wooden planks over the ruins of the bridge allowed crossing the river, until June 1964 when a new bridge was built upstream.^[5]

Old bridge derruït and with passeres wooden provisional