San Lázaro aqueduct

One of the three aqueducts that supplied water to Roman Mérida. Of the original Roman construction, which was over a kilometre long, only three robust pillars remain.

These three pillars each have a buttress crowned by a moulded cornice and are part of the section where it bridged the hollow of the Albarregas watercourse.The pillars are connected by two stone arches that correspond to the lower floor of arcades, formed by eleven voussoirs. The lower part of the pillars are dressed granite ashlar blocks, while the upper sections are made with flat stone slabs and brick courses.These are of varying types and proportions. For example, there is an angle in the arch closest to the former town of 'Emerita Augusta', which is possibly due to a change in the course of this public engineering work. It reaches a maximum height of 14.97 metres.A new aqueduct was built in the Renaissance style in the 16th century, which is the one that is preserved in its entirety.