Pont Vell, Gothic bridge in Castelló d'Empúries, Catalonia
Pont Vell is a Gothic pedestrian and bicycle bridge in Castelló d'Empúries, Catalonia, crossing the Muga River in the Sant Marc neighborhood. It has seven arches of different sizes, with triangular projections acting as buttresses, and is built from a mix of stone and brick following centuries of repairs.
The bridge is a 13th-century construction, not 14th-century as long believed: in 1287 a townsman named Castelló Moler asked permission to build a chapel to Saint Mark at the head of the New Bridge, today's Pont Vell. A 1279 notary protocol names Moler as its main promoter. Floods in 1332, 1387, 1421, 1428, 1444 and 1446 damaged it repeatedly, and by 1699 carts were banned from the ruined structure.
The bridge takes its name from its age: the medieval crossing was long called pont Nou, while the newer one on the Sant Pere road was the pont Vell. The name swapped over time. The Castelló poet Carles Fages de Climent wrote a poem about it, and the chapel of Sant Marc once stood at its end.
The bridge is freely accessible at any time and sits near Carrer del Pont, in the heart of Castelló d'Empúries, making it easy to reach on foot from the town center. Walking or cycling across gives the best view of the river and the surrounding old quarter.
Although the bridge has seven arches, only one of them is still made from the original stone of the medieval construction. All the others were rebuilt with brick after flood damage, which means two clearly different building materials sit side by side across the same structure.
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