Puente Nuevo

For Puente Nuevo (Pontenova), town in Galicia (Spain), see A Pontenova.

Puente Nuevo
Puente Nuevo in El Tajo gorge
Coordinates
Carries	Vehicular traffic
Crosses	Guadalevín River in El Tajo gorge
Locale	Ronda
Characteristics
Material	Stone
Number of spans	3

The Puente Nuevo (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpwente ˈnweβo], "New Bridge") is the newest and largest of three bridges that span the 120-metre (390 ft)-deep chasm that carries the Guadalevín River and divides the city of Ronda, in southern Spain. The architect was José Martin de Aldehuela, who died in Málaga in 1802. The chief builder was Juan Antonio Díaz Machuca.

The bridge was started in 1751 and took 42 years to build. Fifty workers were killed during its construction. There is a chamber above the central arch that was used for a variety of purposes, including as a prison. During the 1936-1939 civil war both sides allegedly used the prison as a torture chamber for captured opponents, killing some by throwing them from the windows to the rocks at the bottom of the El Tajo gorge. The chamber is entered through a square building that was once the guard-house. It now contains an exhibition describing the bridge's history and construction.

Both Nationalists and Republicans are claimed to have thrown prisoners from the bridge to their deaths in the canyon during the Spanish Civil War.

See also

• Puente Viejo
• Ronda
• Guadalevín

External links

• Comprehensive tourist information about Ronda in English