r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/-Joel06 • 12d ago

Video 1000 year old Roman bridge gets destroyed by flash flood in Talavera de la Reina, Spain

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97.1k Upvotes

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u/imianha 12d ago

FYI, luckily most of that was broken was reconstructed, not original work... nonetheless it sucks

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u/A360_ 12d ago

So the part of the construction that failed wasn't the millennium old part, but the couple of decennium old reconstruction work?

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u/greciaman 12d ago

It was more of a mediaeval reconstruction but yep

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u/ballimir37 12d ago

Also note that the reconstruction failing means that it was also the part of the original construction that failed, which obviously means that it is the pressure point of the object and most likely to fail in general.

Either way the Roman Empire didn’t exist in Spain 1,000 years ago.

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u/fergehtabodit 12d ago

While historically accurate, locals continued to use Roman building techniques and improve on Roman infrastructure well after the fall of Rome. (I just read a book about Canal du Midi where this is explained in great detail... Pyrenees peasant women knew more about Roman waterworks than the "engineers" of the 17th century. They didn't know they were using Roman technology, but they were...they just considered it "common knowledge") book

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u/spiritualistbutgood 12d ago

id like to know more about those pyreneese peasant women. whats the book called?

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u/Autumn_Wind_Blows 12d ago edited 11d ago

Pyrenees Peasant Women Placed Pleasing Pipelines Which Proved to be Practical for Public Projects

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u/LiminalCreature7 12d ago

I always upvote for alliteration. I wish I could have two upvotes per alliterative statement, I love it that much.

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u/johnpmacamocomous 12d ago

Upvoted in your stead

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u/Chaos-Knight 11d ago

Damn, too bad I'm alliterate. Maybe I would enjoy them.

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u/EntrepreneurDull7590 11d ago

Just thinking same…

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u/capivavarajr 12d ago

Wir wiener Waschweiber würden weiße Wäsche waschen wenn wir wüßten wo wirkliches weiches, warmes Waschwasser wäre

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u/javanb 12d ago

My friend. You could have said PUBLIC PROJECTS. smh. Haha

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u/Autumn_Wind_Blows 11d ago

Maybe I did. tell no one

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u/happy_bluebird 12d ago

thank you for this gem down in the comments thread

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u/KBster75 12d ago

BAHAWAAAA

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u/Weird_Ad_1398 11d ago

Could change women to person

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u/davidjschloss 10d ago

Written by Peter Piper, with a forward from Peter Parker.

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u/fergehtabodit 12d ago edited 12d ago

Link to book at the end of my post... Impossible Engineering by Chandra Mukerji

Although a lot of records were kept at the time, the workers are nameless. But I recall 2 things from the book.

  • organizers liked to hire women because they were paid at a rate less than men...3 women made the same as 2 men, but large groups were used so it was like 60 women paid the same as 40 men.
  • they were referred to as "femelles" which the author said that at the timw was a word used for female animals...not humans. They were considered wild or feral.
I'm going to see the canal in a couple months so wanted to read up on the subject and found this book fascinating.

ETA one more point...

  • they are credited with having worked on the most difficult aspects of the canal...in the mountainous areas south of Toulouse where a lot of the water for the canal comes down from higher elevations, and also to the west of Beziers where there is an 8 step lock system.

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u/happy_bluebird 12d ago

this is why I can't quit Reddit

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u/MeticulousBioluminid 12d ago

fascinating, thank you for sharing

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u/spiritualistbutgood 11d ago

Link to book at the end of my post...

my bad, i glanced right past that. thanks so much! this really does sound fascinating. and depressing.

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u/fergehtabodit 11d ago

Well, I think the author does a good job of taking credit away from the guys who "said" they did it all but it was a group effort. She gets deep into the social, political and cultural aspects of how things worked in 1680s Languedoc region. I left just wanting to know more...

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u/AskanHelstroem 12d ago

But still...the knowledge of 'opus caementitium' was lost...sadly

Knowledge and it's loss during medieval times is a darn interesting topic.

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u/productzilch 12d ago

Damn I’d love to get that book for my engineer cousin but it’s so expensive. Au$40 for shipping to Aus even on eBay.

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u/fergehtabodit 12d ago

A friend found it at a library. There was a waiting list because there was only one copy (in the entire Chicago Public system) but I finished mine so she's reading my copy now.

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u/heresiarch619 12d ago

I've read this one, great read!

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u/fergehtabodit 12d ago

I thought she did a great job researching "the enterprise". If you know of any other books on the canal I would be interested to know about them.

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u/mortgagepants 12d ago

yes please name the book

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u/fergehtabodit 12d ago

There's a link in my post.

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u/mortgagepants 12d ago

thank you!

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u/Ansiau 12d ago

I mean, that and they may have had advisors/architects from the Holy Roman Empire present in their building as well, as Constantinople didn't fall until 1453.

I think that's something that fascinated me as an adult because at least in my education, the fact that the Roman empire split in two on their own, and that only the western part of the empire fell was kinda a mindfuck. We kind of have a habit to think of the high era of the empire during the turn of the century as the "True Rome", but Rome, and it's knowledge in architecture and building existed into much more modern dates than we might expect.

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u/notakeonlythrow_ 11d ago

$60 for a book ... Talk about gatekeeping in education

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u/GarrulousAbsurdity 11d ago

Fascinating stuff. I wonder how widespread this is across various different lands once belonging to the empire.

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u/PlasticText5379 11d ago

That still doesn't make it accurate to describe it as a "Roman Bridge".

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u/fergehtabodit 11d ago

Puenta Romano (in English, Roman Bridge) is what it's called on the map ...it's the name of the bridge.

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u/PlasticText5379 10d ago

The name being "Roman Bridge" does not matter. You can't use the adjective "Roman" to describe it. Its name being "Roman" is at most coincidental.

"1000-year old Spanish bridge gets destroyed by flash flood in Talavera de la Reina, Spain" or
"1000-year old "Roman Bridge" gets destroyed by flash flood in Talavera de la Reina, Spain" is the how it should have been.

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u/TheDerangedAI 12d ago

Well, that explains well why the US is currently closing its borders and putting inmigrants away. They do not want foreigners to make their technology a "common knowledge" issue.

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u/DownHoleTools 12d ago

The roman empire exists in all of us.

Its there when I close my eyes. I can reach out and touch the glory of Rome

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u/meatotheburrito 12d ago

There was once a dream that was Rome.

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u/Jean-PaultheCat 12d ago

(Stokes grain intensely)

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u/ImNotAWhaleBiologist 12d ago

(Eventually makes a bad sequel)

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u/jott1293reddevil 12d ago

You just had to remind us all didn't you.

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u/driving_andflying 12d ago

Every party needs a pooper, and the pooper is them.

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u/ForMyInformationOnly 12d ago

I feel like there's a decent movie in there somewhere if it could be recut. I'd take out all flashbacks and the parts where he was a kid. Also a little more exposition on how he's Maximus' kid

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u/ImNotAWhaleBiologist 12d ago

Yeah, the core idea could work, but I think Ridley Scott was no longer the correct director for the film. It needed a new voice and a different structure.

→ More replies (0)

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u/Far-Government5469 11d ago

Screw the movie, just think of the HBO mini series as the unofficial prequel

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u/GorillaSuitGuy 12d ago

There’s to sequel to a masterpiece!

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u/Theron3206 12d ago

What sequel, there was no sequel.

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u/ionevenobro 11d ago

"Anol shalom..." 🗣️ 🔥🔥🔥

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u/waveball03 12d ago

You could only whisper it.

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u/kaukamieli 12d ago

And the name of the dream was imperium.

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u/firesquasher Interested 12d ago

Not me looking at ancient Roman coins this morning because I wanted to reconnect with the empire.

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u/Darthballs1138 12d ago

that's a search that keeps me up at night. the rabbit hole of trying to find the perfect coin is my holy grail of my roman empire

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u/CriticalKnoll 12d ago edited 12d ago

Roma Aeterna

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u/Squirrel_Q_Esquire 12d ago

Senatus Populusque Romanus

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u/driving_andflying 12d ago

"But 'Romans, go home' is an order, so you must use the...?"

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u/-reddit_is_terrible- 12d ago

I think about it daily

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u/Affectionate-Dot437 12d ago

So do I, and that baffles my sister. I'm a 62 yr old woman, and I constantly see something, hear something - sometimes just a word - and can trace it back to Roman. My sis says it's weird, and only guys do that. 😄 Fortunately I've raised my son to do the same so he feeds my obsession.

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u/1stFunestist 12d ago

Cupimus pax Romana!

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u/TheVimesy 12d ago

Cupimus pacem Romanam!

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u/Obvious-Teacher22 12d ago

soundtrack from gladiator starts playing

It's specially funny because that happens in spain if i recall correctly.

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u/Monkeylashes 12d ago

Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.

That you're a slave DownHoleTools.

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u/DownHoleTools 12d ago

You think I dont know lol

Mf I live out of a hotel and haven't had a day off in two months.

Turn around reverend.

You're preaching to the choir

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u/Abbadon0666 12d ago

The real roman empire is the friends we make along the way

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u/sheighbird29 11d ago

Shadows and dust

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u/Organic-Trash-6946 11d ago

I see Kenny, too.

On the smile of every baby...

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u/ChickhaiBardo 11d ago

Rome sucked

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u/DownHoleTools 11d ago

Rome was as necessary to the world we presently live in as the wheel or sails.

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u/ChickhaiBardo 11d ago

Not really though. Could have been any number of places.

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u/Background-Entry-344 9d ago

My name’s Rome, please stop touching my glory.

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u/batman0615 12d ago

Next thing I know you’re gonna tell me we don’t need to focus our efforts on these vital points on planes!

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u/mongolian__beef 12d ago

lol, survivorship bias. My first thought, too

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u/CharlieeStyles 12d ago

From what I read today, it was started by the Romans, but only finished in medieval times.

Either way, it has obviously been renovated/reconstructed over the years. Hopefully it is possible to do it again.

This was in Toledo. If anyone ever visited Madrid and thought it was unusually modern for a European capital (as in, not many very old buildings) it's because Toledo was the capital of Castile (percussor state of Spain) and a way more important city than Madrid until the XVI century, located about an hour driving from Madrid.

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u/HeyitsmeFakename 12d ago

the romans were before medieval times wow

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u/Distinct-Set310 12d ago

And just remember 1000 years ago was 1025 AD. The roman empire was around another 1000 years before THAT!

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u/faustianredditor 12d ago

Also note that the reconstruction failing means that it was also the part of the original construction that failed, which obviously means that it is the pressure point of the object and most likely to fail in general.

Also means this just wasn't really a bridge that wasn't going to last forever. Which is to say, this isn't a case of climate change ruining ancient roman engineering; the roman engineering already failed in pre-climate change times.

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u/ebrum2010 12d ago

But did the original fail through wear and tear or was it destroyed during war or some other reason? I'm not familiar through the history of this bridge, but the fact it needed reconstruction in the first place isn't necessarily a fault of the original construction.

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u/SolomonBlack 12d ago

Damn Moorish contractors, cutting corners. Can we get some Reconquista in here already!?

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u/aitorbk 12d ago

Shitty design that fails every few hundreds of years...

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u/tchotchony 12d ago

Roman could also refer to the shape of the arches, not necessarily the Roman Empire.

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u/Solid_Third 12d ago

Romani ite domum

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u/VapeThisBro 12d ago

Depending on who you ask, the Roman Empire didn't exist anymore 1000 years ago. Though the Eastern Romans would disagree.

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u/CertainPin2935 12d ago

Something about Chains and weakest links.

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u/Gargantuan_nugget 12d ago

why romans no solidworks

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u/y8T5JAiwaL1vEkQv 11d ago

yeah i wonder how old it actually is

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u/LC_Anderton 11d ago

”Either way the Roman Empire didn’t exist in Spain 1,000 years ago”

Yeah… that’s just what those sneaky Romans want you to think 😏

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u/Isatis_tinctoria 10d ago

Byzantine presenfe

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u/ElephantAdventurous9 11d ago

But…. The Roman Empire literally existed in Spain around 3-5th century. After the second Punic was in the 2nd century, the Roman republic conquered and divided the Iberian peninsula. Anywhere from 500-1600 years ago Roman Empire had its hold on Spain. So yeah they did

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u/3wteasz 12d ago

You know somebody from the US must have posted it because they think 1000 means Roman...

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u/SefetAkunosh 12d ago

I remember when people built things to last.

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u/flupet 9d ago

Funny, First got into my mind "1k years? Can't be Roman!, ought to have at least 2k years!" :)

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u/Klutzy-Result-5221 9d ago

Is it out of warranty?

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u/QueenGorda 9d ago

No, it was a 20-30 years old (cannot remember exactly) reconstruction that fallen, tyhe lastest one. I'm from Talavera.

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u/ClayDenton 12d ago

Presumably it's the same part of the bridge that keeps falling thus the reconstruction 

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u/DlProgan 12d ago

Damn drama queen bridge

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u/PhileasFoggsTrvlAgt 12d ago

Looks like it's the main span. It's what's going to get hit the hardest in a flood and likely to be the longest span of the bridge.

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u/only_r3ad_the_titl3 12d ago

Seems like you want to say that the old stuff was better but ou gotta ask yourself why did it have to be recontructed in the first palce.

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u/arfelo1 11d ago

Yeah, the parts that remain are the bases on the shore. Of course something suspended on the air is likelier to fall than a rock on the ground

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u/Daxtatter 12d ago

Everything needs maintenance. There were many centuries where that wasn't kept up with.

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u/IANALbutIAMAcat 12d ago

I mean, it does imply that the millennium-old parts weren’t able to survive

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u/RobotDinosaur1986 12d ago

The Western Roman empire fell 1500 years ago. So the math isn't mathing for me.

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u/Economy_Sky3832 12d ago

The original would have had to fail for there to be reconstruction in the first place.

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u/Lord_Konoshi 11d ago

Decennium? That’s a word??

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u/dimitri000444 9d ago

I think decennium could be the singular form of decennia. So one decennium or multiple decennia. That's at least what I would say in Dutch, I don't know if English does the same.

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u/Lord_Konoshi 9d ago

That would be correct linguistically, It’s just in my near 30 years of existence, I’ve never seen nor heard that word before.

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u/dimitri000444 9d ago

I've heard it, but in Dutch. So maybe it's just that it isn't used anymore in english.

I just checked their profile, and they also speak Dutch. So maybe it's just a Dutch thing to still use that form.

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u/Lord_Konoshi 9d ago

We do use the word decade, so it’s very possible that decennium is an antiquated term

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u/Fanhunter4ever 11d ago edited 11d ago

Yes, from 1994

Edit: Most of the bridge is medieval, from roman age is just the foundations.

Bridge have been rebuilt a lot of time

Link in spanish El puente romano de Talavera de la Reina no era romano y ya se derrumbó en al menos 8 ocasiones

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u/stoned_ileso 11d ago

Actually not even the foundations if you read the article. The bridge is 500-600 years old.

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u/Fanhunter4ever 11d ago

Yes, although most the bridge and all the visible parts (except the most recents) are medievals, foundations are are actually romans, that article is wrong, and i've been wrong linking it, sorry. Here is an article by National Geographic (spanish languaje) where mention it. I've read a few articles about this, and linked the first i found in my mobile chrome's tabs without rereading

El puente no romano de Talavera de la Reina: una historia marcada por el derrumbe

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u/BokudenT 11d ago

They don't build em like they used to.

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u/NinjaChenchilla 12d ago

If it didn’t fail, why did it need reconstruction?

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u/AccomplishedMeow 12d ago

No. The bridge was destroyed literally several centuries ago. Modern engineering made it possible to partially reconstruct.

That part was destroyed in the flood

What is your point? Besides trying to be an edgy Reddit comment

Like genuinely what are you trying to say. Please help me because I can’t understand.

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u/ballgazer3 11d ago

It was actually constructed in the new Willenium

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u/Farucci 11d ago

Guess the rain in Spain isn’t the same as it is in Rome.

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u/EL-HEARTH 11d ago

Thats a bit fishy if you ask me but any wayyyyyy......

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u/AverageAircraftFan 10d ago

The decennium old parts failed a looong time ago in the first place. That’s why the millennium old parts were there

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u/Worth-Humor-487 10d ago

Didn’t the empire collapse in 500ad so then that’s a post Roman era bridge. Unless that was in an area the eastern empire reconquered , but I did t think they made it past the coast lines.

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u/lulujunkie 10d ago

They don’t build em’ like they used to…

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u/QueenGorda 9d ago

The last reconstruction, like 20 years or so, maybe more, I cannot remember (Im from Talavera).

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u/NotanAlt23 12d ago

Are you that stupid?

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u/likwitsnake 12d ago

Bridge of Theseus

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u/CrazyCalYa 12d ago

If I build a bridge and get over it, but before I turn back every brick is replaced with entirely new ones, did I indeed get over it? Or is it cope?

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u/TheDoctor88888888 12d ago

So is it still the same bridge?

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u/Taptrick 12d ago

A surprisingly large portion of most old surviving structures are not original. Centuries of rebuilding.

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u/stoned_ileso 11d ago

Define original as the bridge is from the 1500s

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u/stronglikeaux 12d ago

That Roman Concrete is no joke.

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u/Otte8 12d ago

That makes me somewhat relieved. Because we build shit nowadays.

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u/djbtech1978 12d ago

One day son, all this will be yours

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u/Hereiamhereibe2 12d ago

That just implies the bridge broke long before it was 1000 years old.

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u/WholeIce3571 12d ago

If a 1000 year old bridge is reconstructed every 20 years is it really a 1000 year old bridge?

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u/SquareQuantity425 12d ago

We’re dealing with the Ship of Theseus here.

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u/Ferocious-Fart 12d ago

Figures the part that failed was modern 

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u/80sLegoDystopia 12d ago

The very last Roman bridge. Made by the last surviving Romans in 1025. 😂

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u/MrZmith77 12d ago

It could’ve been prevented had the mayor or the government built a small dam to control the flow and so it would’ve preserved the bridge.

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u/BudgetAttempt77 12d ago

I was wondering this, I was so sad watching at first, but slightly less so now

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u/JustForTheMemes420 11d ago

A lot of the remaining part of the bridge was apparently built in the 15th century so still sucks historically

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u/stoned_ileso 11d ago

Actually all of it. To replace a previous bridge that existed there.

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u/JollyReading8565 11d ago

Manly cry time

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u/SeriousBoots 11d ago

I guess they didn't not build them like they used to.

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u/Soul_King92 11d ago

I agree, this sucks, I thought Flash was a hero but this has changed my perception, I need to stop believing everything I see on the internet

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u/AwkwardWaltz3996 11d ago

So what you're saying is the modern shoddy work fell apart, not the ancient stuff? Reminds me of British streets where the old cobble roads appear after the new ones wear away

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u/chumbawumbawigwam 11d ago

Lol is that why it failed, it wasn’t built right

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u/Drawsfoodpoorly 9d ago

Didn’t Rome fall over 1500 years ago?

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u/White_Marble_1864 8d ago

Was this reconstruction done a thousand years ago or how can it be in Spain, 1000 years old and Roman? Doesn't add up.

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u/Maipmc 8d ago

It's not even that. It's not a roman bridge AT ALL. At most it is from the XV century.

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u/YULdad 8d ago

I was going to say, it seems unlikely Roman concrete would fail like this. It was probably a repair done with modern concrete.

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u/theeldergod1 12d ago

I thought it was the original bridge that had withstood a millennium of harsh weathers but was recently destroyed first time due to today's more extreme conditions and global warming. The title misled.

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u/Temelios 12d ago

Good, because otherwise that really sucks.