The old bridge in Silves, known by many as the Roman bridge, is being classified as a monument of public interest and to this end, a notification was published in the Official Gazette on February 18th.
The 76 metre bridge is built from local stone and has five perfectly formed arches spanning the river Arade.
Despite being known as the 'Roman Bridge', the current structure was built in the 14th century but is on the site of an earlier structure as the north-south crossing would have been essential when Silves was the Moorish capital of the Algarve region.
Studies suggest that a Roman Road might have crossed this area, leading to the colloquial name, but medieval descriptions of Silves carried out by Arabs and Christians never mention a bridge in place.
There are scraps of documentation relating to the bridge, one being a royal order to “rebuild” the structure in 1439, hence there was a bridge in place previously but when it was built, nobody knows.
In the early seventeenth century the bridge lost two arches and had to be restored. In 1716 it again was restored by a stonemason named Inácio Mendes. The stylistic structure of the bridge was not changed.
In the twentieth century, one of the arches, located on the north bank, was removed to make way for the roadside walkway. In 1950 the bridge became pedestian only, with traffic using a newly constructed crossing just upstream.
The bridge certainly is of archaeological interest but culturally, it is an integral part of Silves' identity.
