Alcolea bridge over the Guadalquivir River (Cordoba)
Located at kilometre 389 of the old National-IV road, ten km from Cordoba. It was a strategic
crossing over the Guadalquivir where, before the current 18th century bridge, there must have
been a structure to lead to the Augustan Way, as mentioned by Juan de Villuga in his repertory of
roads of the 16th century.
The old bridge must have been in use until the second half of the 18th century according to
different documentary testimonies, including Antonio Ponz, who writes in Viaje de España: “The
new bridge is from ashlar work in a kind of blackish marble, of which there are large sources
nearby, on the slopes of Sierra Morena. I’ve crossed the river via the old bridge on several
occasions and it seemed to be of Roman design, but it was already deteriorated and too narrow.
If I’m not mistaken, I counted twenty arches; this already has twelve and I believe will end up
having the same number.”
In 1761, a Royal Decree was published that ordered the construction of roads from Madrid to
Andalusia, Catalonia, Galicia and Valencia. A system proposed years earlier by Bernardo Ward,
who as well as these four proposed another two from Madrid to Irún and Badajoz, thus defining
the six radial roads that are still preserved. Thus arose a new Spanish road concept, very
different from the Roman network or medieval roads. This radial system was well adapted to the
Borbons’ goal to enable interconnection between the kingdom’s different regions and ensure the
centralisation of the state’s government” (Balaguer Camphuis, Enrique “El transporte por
carretera y sus antecedentes históricos” in Historia de las obras públicas, Madrid: Real Academia
de Ciencias Exactas, Física y Naturales, 1984, 43). In view of this system, numerous bridges
were built, most of which, like the Alcolea bridge, are still in use.
In the centre of the bridge, on a plaque located on a pedestal flanked by two Tuscan columns and
crowned by the royal coat of arms, is an inscription that reads: “In the reign of Charles III and the
year 1785 this bridge started to be built with public funds. It was completed in 1792, in the reign of
Charles IV”. The fact that it highlights the fact that it was paid for with public funds and not by the
neighbouring towns, as in earlier times, is one more sign of the change that resulted from an
illustrated concept of politics.
We believe that the site of the new bridge could be the same as that of the old structure, although
it has usually been considered that it was merely nearby. A fragment from the political testament
of the Count of Floridablanca in which it says “the construction work has been progressing so well
that the road to Andalusia would be finished if it were not for the great cost and time being taken
to build the very long bridge at Alcolea, which has had to be rebuilt”, reaffirms our idea that the
bridge was built, after dismantling the old arches, over the old structure.
The very long bridge consists of twenty cannon vaults, the same number that the old Roman
bridge had, with spans ranging from ten to fourteen metres. The arches present a thread of
uniform keystones and moulding on the extrados*, lower than the wall plane, and vertical. These
vaults are supported by piles of two different thicknesses, 4.20 m and 5 m, with two types of piles
and cutwaters, which follow the same sequence. All the piles have cutwaters that are pointed
upstream and semicircular downstream, although the small piles, which form the intermediate
series, are capped with tapered steps, the large ones, one in three, have cutwaters at road
height, giving rise to large sidings. The parapets are made from large ashlar blocks.
It is built with good quality ashlar brick, mostly stretchers and occasionally headers. The material
used, grey sandstone from a nearby Sierra Morena quarry, is highly admired by travellers. Ponz
said it was built from “a blackish marble” (Pascual Madoz referred to “bluish jasper”) and wrote
about the bridge in these terms: “All made from black marble taken from the numerous nearby
quarries of such beautiful stone. It has 20 large eyes, sustained by as many supports of
uncommon solidness... it is one of the best bridges in the peninsula”.
Although the authorship of this 18th century project is unknown, one of the possible authors has
been identified as the designer of the Molíns del Rey bridge over the Llobregat River, on the road
from Madrid to Barcelona.
Strategically located, the bridge has witnessed important historic events such as in 1808 in the
War of Independence, when the French fought the Spanish led by Dupont and Echevarri,
respectively, or in the revolution of 1868, in the questioned battle (according to some, an
arranged affair) of the same name as the bridge, in which generals Serrano and Prim beat the
governmental Novaliches and led to the fall of Elisabeth II. These battles, which show the
importance of the site, have led to numerous war-related iconography, either oil paintings or
engravings with singular images of the bridge.
It now looks much different, as the needs of the intense traffic on the National IV road in the
1970s required the structure to be widened. Having ruled out the initial idea of numbering the
ashlar work and partially disassembling the structure, the chosen solution consisted of
lengthening the road on both sides with concrete cantilevers. This reform altered the image of the
bridge, now without its characteristic sidings, which disappeared beneath the wide road, also
preventing a clear view of the drums and line of posts.
In 1992, when the new Madrid-Seville motorway opened, it was finally freed from the intense
traffic of the National IV. It is well preserved and has never lost its monumental nature.