The Bridge of Grand Arvou The Petit Arvou The Bridge of Grand Arvou (Italian: ''Ponte acquedotto di Grand Arvou'', French: ''Pont aqueduc du Grand Arvou'') is an aqueduct-bridge in the ''

frazione A ''frazione'' (: ''frazioni'') is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' ('municipality') in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidat ...

'' Porossan of

Aosta Aosta ( , , ; ; , or ; or ) is the principal city of the Aosta Valley, a bilingual Regions of Italy, region in the Italy, Italian Alps, north-northwest of Turin. It is situated near the Italian entrance of the Mont Blanc Tunnel and the G ...

, north-western

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. It span the Rû Prévôt irrigation canal, and includes a large corridor covered by

flagstone Flagstone (flag) is a generic flat Rock (geology), stone, sometimes cut in regular rectangular or square shape and usually used for Sidewalk, paving slabs or walkways, patios, flooring, fences and roofing. It may be used for memorials, headstone ...

s. Another aqueduct-bridge, the Petit Arvou, is located a few meters downstream.

History

In the late 13th-early 14th century, there was a series of programs aiming to improve the irrigation level in Aosta Valley, due to increased demand of animal husbandry. One of these was the construction of a canal, the Rû Prévôt, by will of Henry of

Quart The quart (symbol: qt) is a unit of volume equal to a quarter of a gallon. Three kinds of quarts are currently used: the liquid quart and dry quart of the US customary system and the of the British imperial system. All are roughly equal ...

provost Provost may refer to: Officials Ecclesiastic * Provost (religion), a high-ranking church official * Prince-provost, a high-ranking church official Government * Provost (civil), an officer of local government, including the equivalent ...

(hence the name) of the Aosta Cathedral. This included also the pair of bridge-aqueducts which are now visible. The income of the canal exploitation was later acquired by the Dukes (later Kings) of Savoy. In the 20th century, the canal was mostly (11,9 km out of 12) channeled into pipes.

Description

The Grand Arvou is an

arch bridge An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its structural load, loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either si ...

, with a span of 68.5 m and an elevation of 13,60 m between the arch's top and the ground; the distance between the roof and the base of the arch is 10,5 m. The bridge is built in mortar and small incoherent stones, with partial plastering. The plan is irregular, with a general

trapezoid In geometry, a trapezoid () in North American English, or trapezium () in British English, is a quadrilateral that has at least one pair of parallel sides. The parallel sides are called the ''bases'' of the trapezoid. The other two sides are ...

al shape, but without the main parallel side; the wall's thickness varies from 50 to 55 cm. The roof is covered by

s, which helped it resist to the centuries.

External links

The Grand Arvou Aqueduct on lovevda.it
{{coord, 45, 45, 30, N, 7, 19, 41, E, display=title Grand Arvou Grand Arvou Bridges completed in the 14th century

Grand Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor Places * Grand, Oklahoma, USA * Grand, Vosges, village and commune in France with Gallo-Roman amphitheatre * Grand County (disambiguation), ...