Aqueduc Romain

The word aqueduct is a late borrowing from Latin aquae ductus, from aqua (water) and ductus (to lead).

The Romans were masters in water transport. However, the choice of the area before settling there was made with great caution: They only settled in a place if they found a way to have water in a sustainable manner. Indeed, water is a primordial and vital commodity for those hoping to settle down and develop sustainably.

Designed in two stages, the aqueduct captured the source of the Foux at Montauroux, then that of the Siagnole at Mons.

The aqueduct starts at the foot of the limestone cliffs, at an altitude of 515 m, then follows a route of approximately 42 km, to Fréjus. It carried the waters of the Siagnole from its source to the highest point of Fréjus, at the Moulin à Vent hill, at an altitude of 34 m, where the water tower (castellum divisorium) was located.

36 aqueduct bridges were built, including 28 for the Reyran valley alone. 2 km downstream from the source, a particularity attracts attention: it is the Roche Taillée. A canal cut into the rock over 50m in length and 20m in depth, it is a work of great magnitude.

The construction of this aqueduct can be dated to the second half of the 1st century and this aqueduct certainly functioned for more than 400 years.

Most of the aqueduct was underground for safety and sanitation reasons.

The conduit or "specus" was generally built in small, regular masonry. Its dimensions were on average 1,60m high (average height of the Romans) and 0,70m wide.

Some arches were doubled along the route and at the arches called “Sénéquier”, two aqueduct bridges were built parallel to each other a few meters apart.

This prestigious monument, the remains of which were classified as a Historic Monument on July 12, 1886, has been the subject of numerous restoration and consolidation campaigns since 1941 and again recently in 2018 with two piles of the Sainte-Croix arches.

This is what Victor Hugo said about it in his "travel diaries" in October 1839, during his visit to Provence:

"Three-quarters of a league from Fréjus, enormous sections of ruins begin to appear here and there among the olive trees. This is the Roman aqueduct. The new and complete aqueduct was doubtless beautiful two thousand years ago, but it was no more beautiful than this gigantic collapse spread over the whole plain, running, falling, rising again, sometimes outlining three or four arches in a row half buried in the earth, sometimes throwing towards the sky an isolated and broken arch or a monstrous buttress standing like a druidic peulven, sometimes majestically raising at the edge of the road a large semicircular arch supported by the two cubic massifs and ruins suddenly transfiguring themselves into triumphal arches. Ivy and brambles hang from all these magnificences of Rome and of time."

In 1894, the fountain of the Four Parts of the World was inaugurated on the Cours Chevalier at the time, today Place Paul Vernet, which commemorates the return of running water to Fréjus. In 1870, an imperial decree set the conditions for sharing the waters of the Siagnole, which was captured again for the occasion. A large part of the Roman aqueduct was used for this project.