Route Aqueduct Águas Livres Arcos Vale de Alcântara and Mother of Water

Route Aqueduct Águas Livres Arcos Vale de Alcântara and Mother of Water

The Águas Livres Aqueduct preserves a unique knowledge, a remarkable hydraulic work, an incomparable beauty, the work of countless masons who have chopped up the stones to give it shape, the only dark chamber ever built, that allows the reflection of the landscape exterior in a play of color, light, shadow, scents that touches the sacred and that never separates us from the Whole. A system of double water distribution, which the Portuguese leave to Humanity.

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Aqueduto das Aguas Livres, Calcada da Quintinha 6, Lisbon 1070-225 Portugal

The intention of the construction of the Aqueduct begins to take shape with the idea of taking water from Águas Livres, in Belas, to the city of Lisbon, in the reigns of D. Manuel, D. João III and D. Sebastião.

In 1571, Francisco de Holanda, in order to guarantee the water supply to the capital, proposed to the king D. Sebastião the reconstruction of an aqueduct and of the old Roman dam of Ollypus. It was only in the reign of King João V in the 18th century that it was decided to move forward with construction, and the costs were fully borne by the population of Lisbon through taxes on meat, olive oil and wine.

Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Reservatório da Mãe d'Água das Amoreiras, Praça das Amoreiras 8, 1250-020 Lisboa, Portugal

The entrance to Lisbon of the Aqueduct of Águas Livres, marked by the arch of Rua das Amoreiras by the Hungarian architect Carlos Mardel, between 1746 and 1748, was closed at the Mãe d'Água Reservoir of Amoreiras.

At present, it is presented as a wide, light and unified space, suggesting its interior the plan of a Salon-style church, proposing the sacredness of space.

Duration: 1 hour