Proserpina Dam

38°58′10″N 6°21′59″W / 38.969544°N 6.366433°W / 38.969544; -6.366433Opening date1st–2nd centuryDam and spillwaysImpoundsLas Pardillas (Guadiana basin)Height12 m (39 ft)Length427.8 m (1,404 ft)Width (base)5.9 m (19 ft)Official nameProserpina DamTypeCulturalCriteriaiii, ivDesignated1993 (17th session)Part ofArchaeological Ensemble of MéridaReference no.664-014RegionEurope and North America Official namePantano de ProserpinaTypeNon-movableCriteriaMonumentDesignated13 December 1912Reference no.RI-51-0000114

The Proserpina Dam is a Roman gravity dam built to supply water to the Roman colonia of Emerita Augusta –present-day Mérida, Spain–, capital of the Roman province of Lusitania. It was built in the 1st–2nd century AD as part of the infrastructure which supplied water to the city through the aqueduct of the Miracles. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the aqueduct fell into decay, but the earth dam with retaining wall is still in use.^[1]

Nowadays the dam and the remains of the aqueduct are part of the Archaeological Ensemble of Mérida, which is one of the largest and most extensive archaeological sites in Spain and that was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1993.^[2]

See also

• List of Roman dams and reservoirs
• Roman architecture
• Roman engineering
• List of Bien de Interés Cultural in the Province of Badajoz

Notes

References

• Arenillas Parra, Miguel; Castillo, Juan C. (2003), "Dams from the Roman Era in Spain. Analysis of Design Forms (with Appendix)", 1st International Congress on Construction History [20th–24th January], Madrid

Further reading

• Aranda Gutiérrez, Fernando (2006), Las presas de abastecimiento en el marco de la ingeniería hidráulica romana. Los casos de Proserpina y Cornalbo (PDF)^{[permanent dead link]}
• Arenillas Parra, Miguel; Díaz-Guerra Jaén, Carmen; Cortés Gimeno, Rafael (2002), La presa romana de Proserpina, archived from the original on 19 August 2003, retrieved 24 October 2009
• Hodge, A. Trevor (1992), Roman Aqueducts & Water Supply, London: Duckworth, pp. 87–89, ISBN 0-7156-2194-7
• Schnitter, Niklaus (1978), "Römische Talsperren", Antike Welt, 8 (2): 25–32 (28f.)
• Smith, Norman (1971), A History of Dams, London: Peter Davies, pp. 44–47, ISBN 0-432-15090-0

External links

• Media related to Proserpina Dam at Wikimedia Commons