Oued Tensift Bridge
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The Oued Tensift Bridge is a historic
bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...
over the Tensift River located just north of
Marrakesh Marrakesh or Marrakech (; , ) is the fourth-largest city in Morocco. It is one of the four imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakesh–Safi Regions of Morocco, region. The city lies west of the foothills of the Atlas Mounta ...
in
Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
. It was originally built during the Almohad period in the 12th century.


History

According to the historical writings of Al-Idrisi, a first bridge over the Tensift River was built by the Almoravid
emir Emir (; ' (), also Romanization of Arabic, transliterated as amir, is a word of Arabic language, Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocratic, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person po ...
Ali Ibn Yusuf (ruled 1106–1143) with the help of architects from
al-Andalus Al-Andalus () was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The name refers to the different Muslim states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most o ...
. The bridge was strategically important as it allowed the river to be crossed during its yearly floods. However, this first bridge was destroyed by floods a few years after completion. Around 1170 CE, the Almohad ruler Abu Ya'qub Yusuf ordered the reconstruction of the bridge at a less vulnerable point 400 meters downstream. According to Marmol, this original bridge had 15 arches. Today the bridge has 27 arches, most likely due to the fact that the riverbed has widened since the 12th century and the bridge therefore had to be extended in turn over the years. The original Almohad bridge most likely corresponds to the middle sections of the current bridge. The bridge is built on pillars that have a stepped and pointed profile upstream and a simply blunt profile downstream, allowing the structure to withstand the force of the waters over centuries.


See also

* List of bridges in Morocco * Landmarks of Marrakesh


References

Buildings and structures in Marrakesh Bridges in Morocco Almohad architecture {{Africa-bridge-struct-stub