Ponte de Prozelo

Bridge of Prozelo Ponte de Prozelo
Coordinates	41°36′58″N 8°20′33″W
Carries	Pedestrians and bicycles
Crosses	Cávado River
Locale	Ferreiros, Prozelo e Besteiros, Amares (Braga District), Portugal
Official name	Ponte de Prozelo/Ponte do Porto
Other name(s)	Port Bridge
Heritage status	National Monument Monumento Nacional Decree (16 June 1910), DG136 (23 June 1910)
Characteristics
Material	Granite
Total length	150 metres (490 ft)
Width	2.8 metres (9.2 ft)
No. of spans	4
History
Construction start	14th century
Location

The Bridge of Prozelo (Portuguese: Ponte de Prozelo) is a bridge in the civil parish of Ferreiros, Prozelo e Besteiros, municipality of Amares, in the Portuguese district of Braga, that crosses the Cávado River.

History

Sometime during the middle of the 14th century, the bridge was constructed, owing to the acronyms on the structure.

The roadway had its origins in Braga, crossing the Cávado River over the port bridge in the direction of Amares (where a shelter existed), bisecting at the path to Geira, to the east, or to north, passing the River Homen at the bridge of Caldelas/Rodas in the direction of Ponte da Barca. Passage along the Cávado before the construction of the port bridge was made to the west between Ribeiro and Lago.

Architecture

The bridge is situated in a rural, isolated position over the River Cávado, between the parishes of Pousada (in Braga) and Prozelo (in Amares), in the locality of Ponte do Porto, 55 kilometres (34 mi) along the Estrada Nacional E.N.205 linking Amares and Póvoa de Lanhoso. There are several houses that line the roadway near the entrance-way to the north of the bridge. The banks of the river is covered in vegetation.

The bridge is approximately 150 metres (490 ft) long and 2.8 metres (9.2 ft) over a flat surface with two access ramps. The four arches in the horizontal section of the bridge are broken and the high part of the three piers that separate them have eyelets. The remaining arcs, ten in number, have unequal dimensions and shape. It includes buttresses with triangular and rectangular talhamares, with the a platform protected by low parapets in granite.

See also

• List of bridges in Portugal

Sources

• Capela, M. (1895), Miliários do Conventus Bracarangustanos em Portugal (in Portuguese), Porto, Portugal, p. 59{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• PEREIRA, F. Alves, Pontes Medievais nos Arcos de Valdevez. Apêndices: II. A ponte do Pôrto em Amares, Portucale, I (in Portuguese), pp. 254–256
• SILVA, Domingos M. da (1959), Entre Homem e Cávado: 1 e 2. Monografia do concelho de Amares (in Portuguese), Amares, Portugal{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• ALMEIDA, Carlos A. F. (1968), Vias Medievais. Entre-Douro-e-Minho (in Portuguese), Porto, Portugal, pp. 196–197{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• ALMEIDA, Carlos A. F. (1973), Os Caminhos e a Assitência no Norte de Portugal, A Pobreza e a Assitência aos Pobres na Península Ibérica durante a Idade Média (in Portuguese), vol. I, Lisbon, Portugal, pp. 39–57{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Guia de Portugal. IV Entre Douro e Minho. II. Minho (in Portuguese), Lisbon, Portugal, 1986, p. 880{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Património Arquitectónico e Arqueológico Classificado, Inventário (in Portuguese), vol. II, Lisbon, Portugal: Distrito de Braga, 1993, p. 8