Iron Bridge (20th Century)

A bridge for communication and an entry point for modern ideas in the City of Coria.

A beautiful civil construction, the Iron Bridge (Puente de Hierro) boasts impressive cast-iron architecture with a modernist 19th-century design and was built over the Alagón river between 1901 and 1909 by two engineers from Asturias, the brothers Salvador and Próspero Ardura. They followed the previously designed construction model that was slightly remodelled on numerous occasions (1879, 1894, 1900 and 1901), by the engineer Basilio Beamonte in 1895, revealing designs based on prefabricated pieces of iron that were linked together through rivets and soldering. This frame made it possible to erect three enormous arches with a span of 50 metres on the thick rail beams to create a path that measures 178.30 metres long by 7.78 metres wide.

Its structure is composed of four wide pilasters laid out on solid hydraulic concrete foundations that measure between 2.60 and 3.00 metres in thickness and are made of perfectly squared granite ashlars that, through the semi-circular starlings on both sides, support and sustain this magnificent marvel of metal engineering. It connected the two riverbanks that have been separated since 1647 due to the natural diversion of the river, after its official and definitive inauguration held on 2 August 1910, with a final cost of the works amounting to 644,248.89 pesetas.

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Location: City centre
Address: Ctra. de Coria-Cáceres (EX-109)
Municipality: 10800 Coria (Cáceres)
Silueta Ciudad de Coria