Água de Prata Aqueduct

The Aqueduto da Água de Prata was built between 1531 and 1537 on the order of João III to bring water about eighteen kilometres from Graça do Divor into Évora, designed by Francisco de Arruda, who had also built the Belém tower. It enters the city on tall arches and runs down what is now Rua do Cano, and what makes it worth walking is what happened next: people built into it. Houses, shops and workshops were fitted between and under the arches over the following centuries, so the aqueduct is not a monument standing apart from the town but part of its fabric, with front doors and windows set in the piers and washing hung across them. Camões mentions it in Os Lusíadas. Outside the walls the arcade runs across open country and can be followed on foot, and the fountain that terminated it stands in the Praça do Giraldo.

What you actually see

• The built-in arches - houses and shops fitted into the piers along Rua do Cano.
• The country arcade - the aqueduct running across open ground outside the walls.
• The 1530s engineering - eighteen kilometres of channel by the architect of the Belém tower.
• The terminal fountain - the outlet in Praça do Giraldo at the city centre.

When to go

Year-round; spring and autumn for walking the outer stretch. One to two hours. Évora is very hot in July and August.

Honest expectations

The dwellings in the arches are private homes - look, do not intrude. The outer stretch has no shade and Alentejo summer heat is severe. Rua do Cano is narrow with traffic. There is no interpretation on site.

Nearby

Praça do Giraldo is at the terminus; the Capela dos Ossos and Roman temple are in the centre.