Amoreira Aqueduct

About this place

Begun in 1537, this aqueduct brought water into the fortified town of Elvas. Its long arcades reveal the investment required to sustain an urban population. Look at it as part of the city's essential infrastructure, linking daily needs with the demands of a strategic border settlement. A reliable supply of water was especially important in a fortified town, where life and defence depended on more than walls alone. The aqueduct makes that less visible side of urban history tangible. Its route and repeated arches show how infrastructure outside a settlement could be essential to sustaining the people within it.