3.078. Roger Martin du Gard, The Thibault Family
Roger Martin du Gard
(1881-1958)
French anti-fascist writer, laureate Nobel Prize in Literature (1937), Roger Martin du Gard (1881-1958) is known as the author of works ranging from farcical to psychological, dedicated to the problems the formation of the personality and the collapse of the family, as well as art ("Becoming", "Old France", "Silent", "Autobiographical and literary memoirs" and etc.).
The main work of the writer was the epic novel "Les Thibault" - "The Thibault Family" from eight volumes: "The Gray Notebook" (1922), "Correctional Colony" (1922), "Sunny Time" (1923), "Doctor's Day" (1928 ), "Sister" (1928), "The Death of a Father" (1929), "Summer 1914" (1936), "Epilogue" (1940).
Family chronicle, which later developed into historical novel, represents a wide panorama french life early 20th century
According to the English critic M. Seymour-Smith, "of the major novels of our century, The Thibault Family is the most tragic."
"The Thibaut Family"
(1920-1940)
During the First World War, Martin du Gard served in the French army on Western front. Demobilized in 1919, the writer drew up a plan for the work, started a file cabinet, and from 1920 began to create a chronicle, accumulating piles of materials for each episode and character. The main characters were members of two bourgeois families - Thibaut and de Fontanen.
In the 1930s, when 6 books of the novel were already published, the main theme of which was developed within the framework of the family, the world approached a new war. Du Gard revised his plan, threw out the next part already written, because. decided that "The Thibauts will disappear, destroyed by the war, and the whole society will disappear with them", reworked the finale and changed the emphasis, because for him "it became impossible to perceive a person outside of society and era." The seventh part of the novel - "Summer 1914" and "Epilogue" are based on historical documents. They are dated every day.
In 1937 du Garou was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature “for artistic power and truth in the image of a person, as well as the most significant aspects modern life».
The 1700-page epic, created over 20 years, is a chronicle of the first two decades of the 20th century, when there was no faith in the world, God died, when each individual made his own choice.
The novel is dedicated to the fate of two brothers Jacques and Antoine Thibaut, whose characters have undergone significant changes. Jacques is a rebel since childhood, his main word was "no". In Antoine with young years integrity was laid down, which made him a professional in his field.
Oscar Thibaut - the head of the family, doctor of rights, devoted himself to public and charitable activities. Taking care of other people's abandoned children, he was an apologist for cane discipline, carried out in the penal colony he founded, and at the same time in his family.
His younger son Jacques corresponded with his peer friend Daniel de Fontanin. Having opened the correspondence, Jacques' Jesuit mentors confiscated the student's gray notebook, and at the same time several "free-thinking" books, which caused the boy's violent protest, and Oscar Thibaut was informed that his son had unnatural inclinations.
The father was going to forcefully suppress the rebellion of Jacques, but he, having agreed with Daniel, ran away from home. They were detained and returned to their families. Shaken by Daniel's escape, his sister Jenny fell ill. Her state of health was aggravated by the fact that their father, Jerome de Fontanin, an empty, elegant male, abandoned the family and appeared there from time to time. (Later, having spent all his money, he committed suicide.) The return of his brother had a beneficial effect on Jenny's well-being.
Oscar Thibaut, on the contrary, met his son as a criminal. Jacques' older brother, student medical university Antoine pleased his father with his successes and contrasted sharply with his obedience next to the rebellious Jacques.
In the end, the father, despite the indignation and protest of Antoine, sent the unruly Jacques to penal colony, whose prison regime and humiliating educational measures were capable of creating an "angel" from the devil.
After some time, Antoine, worried about the fate of his brother, went to the place of his imprisonment. The apathy of Jacques led him into confusion - it seemed that the will of the rebel was broken.
But, as it turned out, so much anger and resentment accumulated in Jacques, the feeling of his unrecognized exclusivity and dissimilarity to the others became so aggravated that this fuse was enough for his entire life. short life. Antoine was personally convinced (Jacques told him a lot) of the cruelty of the environment in which his brother lived.
Returning to Paris, Antoine demanded that his father return his brother to the family, but he was as hard as a rock. And only the intercession of the confessor Oscar Thibault returned Jacques to Father's house.
Jacques began to live with his brother. Despite his father's prohibition, he resumed his contacts with Daniel and his sister Jenny, who at first accepted him with hostility, and then gradually changed her attitude towards him. Jacques entered the Ecole Normale, and Daniel was engaged in painting, edited an art magazine, in short, he lived beautifully.
Antoine, who received a medical degree, soon showed his skill with brilliance. He had to operate at home on a girl who was hit by a van. The young doctor snatched the child from the hands of death, causing admiration from all witnesses, incl. and his neighbor, the beautiful and very free Rachel.
The girl was subdued by the surgeon and immediately subdued him herself. There was passion and blindness, and then the exotic Rachel left Antoine and drove off to her former no less exotic lover, towards her own death.
Twenty-five-year-old Jacques, who earned his father's curse by his defiance, again left home - this time for good. He completely disappeared from view, and many believed that he was dead.
In a few years, Antoine has become famous doctor with a wide clientele. He only lived scientific interests and medical practice.
When Oscar Thibaut became seriously ill, Antoine decided to find his brother and bring him to his dying father. He found Jacques in Switzerland, where, after three years of wandering around Austria, Germany, Italy and Tunisia, under the name of Jack Bogi, he took up journalism and writing short stories, and at the same time gave a lot of energy social activities. Jacques vehemently objected to the trip to his father, but, in the end, agreed.
Alas, the brothers were late. Mr. Thibaut was already in a coma and then died. Looking through the papers of the deceased, Antoine wistfully realized that he did not know his father at all, but it was already too late to correct something.
In the pre-war summer of 1914, Jacques was in Switzerland, carrying out a number of secret assignments for socialist organizations. Jacques is no longer just a spontaneous rebel, he clearly saw the goals in front of him, and among like-minded people he gained great authority.
The novel recreates the tense atmosphere of the eve of the war, shows the rot of society - from top to bottom, reproduces with documentary accuracy the pathos of mass anti-war rallies and demonstrations, and even more - the frightening apathy of the whole society.
After terrorist act in Sarajevo, Jacques came to Paris and discussed the "current moment" with Antoine. He tried to enlist his brother in the fight against the impending war, but Antoine did not care about the war.
“Why should I take the sins and sorrows of the world onto my neck? This will only paralyze my creative powers, stifle my talent without any benefit to anyone ... I have more serious things to do than feel the pulse of Europe!
But the war began, and it broke the way of life, exposed the characters, exacerbated the differences between the brothers. From now on, said Jacques, a person is measured by his attitude to the war. Antoine, as a successful member of society, could not help but go to his defense, and the pacifist Jacques could not accept the war, just as he could not accept the system that gave rise to this massacre. The younger Thibault gave his entire share of the inheritance to the socialist party.
Born into a daddy, the hedonist Daniel went to the front. There he had to abandon the cult of pleasure, and the merciless war completely turned him into an impotent, depriving his life of any meaning.
Jacques dodged the call and left for Switzerland. Like a true revolutionary, he went to the end. Once, after a passionate but useless anti-militarist speech at a rally, Jacques Thibaut wrote fiery anti-war leaflets and intended to scatter them over the front line from an airplane, in the naive hope of revolutionizing the mood of the soldiers.
When approaching the positions, the airplane crashed. The badly wounded Thibaut was mistaken for a Prussian spy, and upon withdrawal French troops the gendarme hastily shot him. The senseless death of Jacques only emphasized his surprisingly whole and noble nature.
Antoine Thibaut, after three years at the front in 1917, came under a gas attack and, poisoned by mustard gas, was treated in a military hospital. He left the infirmary disabled. Antoine spent several days in the company of Jenny, who had a son, Jean-Paul, from Jacques. In the face and character of his nephew, Antoine saw the features of his dead brother, heard the same “no”.
Dying from a painful illness, Antoine in his diary for 4.5 months carefully recorded everything that happened to him, collected literature on the treatment of those poisoned by gases in order to leave behind detailed description this clinical case.
On the verge of death, Antoine understood his younger brother, soberly and without illusions assessed his life with her imaginary values, belatedly, but nevertheless, a citizen woke up in him.
Feeling the approach of agony, Thibaut at the age of 37 years, 4 months and 9 days injected himself with morphine.
Like him younger brother, Antoine accomplished the feat, courageously describing the disintegration of his own body - not for success and well-being, but for the sake of those who remain alive - for the sake of Jean-Paul, whom he thought about at the last moment of his life.
"The Thibault Family" was translated from French by M. Waxmacher, G. Khudadov, N. Rykov, N. Zharkov, Inn. Oksenov, D. Lifshits.
In 2003, the French director J.-D. Vereg directed the television series of the same name.
MARTIN DU GARD, ROGER(Martin Du Gard, Roger) (1881-1958), French novelist and playwright, winner of the 1937 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Born March 23, 1881 in the Parisian suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine, in a wealthy family of judicial officials. The eldest of two children. Biographers say that at the school where Marten studied, he was friends with a boy who wrote plays, and, being carried away by literature thanks to him, he himself began to write.
When Martin was 11 years old, he was sent to the Ecole Fenelon Catholic School, where he fell under the influence of Abbé Marcel Hébert, one of the leaders of French neo-Thomism (a movement in the bosom of catholic church, whose supporters tried to revise church dogmas in the light of data modern science and philosophy). Growing up, Martin du Gard departed from Catholicism, but maintained friendly relations with Marcel Hébert until his death in 1916.
He did not study very well, so he was sent by his parents to home schooling to Professor Louis Mellerio. In his family, he fell into an environment of intellectuals, where it was customary to read a lot and reach everything with his own mind, which became for young man good education school. He was accustomed to working independently and acquired what he himself called a "research streak."
At the age of 17, on the advice of a mentor-abbot, I read War and peace L. Tolstoy. The novel made an indelible impression on him and led him to the conscious thought of becoming a writer. Soon he enters the Sorbonne, but, without passing the next exam, he is expelled from the university. Enters the Ecole de Chart, the highest historical and archival institution in France. Studying at an archival historical institution affected his future writing technique - scrupulous, thorough, based on conscientiously verified facts.
In 1905 he graduated from the School and received a diploma as a paleographer-archivist. A year later, he marries the daughter of a Parisian lawyer.
For a year and a half he has been working hard on a long, in the spirit of L. Tolstoy, novel about a village priest, but after a while he realizes that such an undertaking is beyond his power.
Unexpectedly for himself, already ready to put an end to his writing craft, writes a novel Formation- the story of a man who dreams of becoming a writer, clearly having autobiographical features, whose attempts to find happiness in creativity and in his personal life end in failure. He publishes the novel at his own expense and since then perceives himself as a professional writer.
He planned to name his next work Maryse, but, after working for some time, again retreated from the plan. As a writer, Martin du Gard was generally distinguished by a particular exactingness towards his work, often tore or burned manuscripts that seemed weak. After another failed attempt working on a novel Jean Barois(1913, Russian translation 1958), which brought him his first success. In it, he applied the then-innovative technique of combining dialogue and historical document, due to which he creates a vivid portrait of a young man, hesitating between faith and rationalism, trying to reconcile faith in God with the data of science. The action takes place against the backdrop of the infamous political scandal surrounding the Dreyfus affair, which gives it a sharp and polemical sound. The writer worked on the novel from 1910 to 1913 - the years of the intelligentsia's disappointment in social activities, pessimism and a sense of defeat in the struggle against politicians of all stripes, against anti-Semitism, the power of the military and clericalism. No wonder Jean Barois exclaims: “What was the purpose of all our efforts? Everywhere lies, self-interest, social injustice! Where is the progress? ... "
During the First World War he served on the Western Front. In 1919 he was mobilized and worked for some time in the Parisian theatre. In 1920 he moved to his parents' estate in Central France and took on an epoch-making literary work- the main result of his life - a novel The Thibaut family, eight volumes of which were published gradually from 1922 to 1940.
The action of this significant work takes place in the first twenty-five years of the 20th century, and in the center of the story are two bourgeois families, Catholic and Protestant. Starting as a family chronicle, the novel develops into a story of the formation of a person against the backdrop of a hostile course of history. According to E. Galperina, “the composition of the novel goes in expanding circles, as it were. In the first six books, ending Father's death(1929), the main theme is still developed within the framework of the family. And yet this is not a family chronicle, but already the beginning of the "chronicle of the century." The family for Martin du Gard is a microcosm, a cell of a social organism. Its poles are Father and Jacques, Power and Rebel. The image of the second brother - Antoine Thibaut, is more controversial, complex, modern, in which many problems of today's society and man are intertwined - talent and selfishness, creativity and a thirst for success, contradictions of contemplation and action. In Russia, the novel was translated as early as 1936, when it was published in the journal Foreign literature” and caused heated debate, as well as in 1959 and 1972.
Like other works of du Gard, The Thibaut family created in the genre of roman fleuve (multi-volume novel), and written in detail, carefully, taking into account historical documents that characterize the era of the change of two worlds, the era of revolutions and wars.
The English critic Martin Seymour-Smith wrote: The Thibaut family“impresses with details, relief of the main characters, with its honesty; of the major novels of our century The Thibaut family- the most tragic.
In 1937 he received the Nobel Prize in Literature "for the artistic power and truth in the depiction of man, as well as the most significant aspects of modern life." Talking about romance The Thibaut family, a member of the Swedish Academy who represented the laureate, noted that “having subjected human soul scrupulous and skeptical analysis, Martin du Gard finally exalts the idealism of the human spirit. In a response speech, the writer spoke out against the dogmatism of human thinking in the 20th century, speaking of the need for "independence of the individual, which avoids the temptation of fanatical ideologies and is focused on self-knowledge." This sounded especially relevant in the years when the danger of fascist expansion loomed over the world.
Among the writings of du Gard - African recognition (1931), Silent(1932) - a play on the theme of homosexuality, old france(1933, Russian translation 1934) is a cynical and unexpectedly caustic description of the life of the French peasantry.
After 1940, he worked on an epic novel for about 17 years. Diary of Colonel Momor left unfinished. However, the indefinite ending, apparently, was assumed by the author himself. Thanks to the free form, the novel could continue for a long time and be interrupted only by the death of the writer. In 1982 Diary of Colonel Momora has been published in full.
He kept a huge correspondence and a diary (from 1919 to 1949), which, by his order, were transferred to National Library in Paris. As biographer Catherine Savage writes, he "enjoyed great respect from his contemporaries." In her opinion, "exploring modern social problems in a realistic vein, Martin remained true to the tradition of the 19th century. and at the same time showed the way further development novel."
Editions: Recollection of Andre Guide, 1953; The Thibaut family. M., 1987, vols. 1–3. Per. M. Waksmakher, G. Khudalova, N. Rykova, N. Zharkova, Inn. Oksenova, N. Lifshitz; Memories. "Foreign Literature", 1956, No. 12
Natalia Karamysheva
Nobel Prize in Literature, 1937
The French novelist and playwright Roger Martin du Gard was born in the Parisian suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine to a wealthy family of Burgundy and Lorrain origins. Roger was the eldest of two children. His father, Paul Émile Martin du Gard, and grandfather were lawyers; mother, born Madeleine Jeanne Vimy, came from a stockbroker family. When Roger was about 10 years old, he made friends at school with a boy who wrote plays, and from that time on, as he later recalled, he himself had a burning desire to become a writer.
At the age of 11, M.d.G. sent to the Ecole Fenelon Catholic School, where the boy falls under the influence of Abbé Marcel Hébert, one of the leaders of French neo-Thomism (a movement within the Catholic Church that sought to revise church dogmas in the light of modern science and philosophy and therefore was considered heretical at the beginning of the 20th century). Over time, M.d.G. departed from Catholicism, but with Hébert he established close, friendly relations, which survived until the death of the priest in 1916.
M.d.G. was a negligent student and did not study well, so his father sent him to Professor Louis Mellerio, who gave the young man private lessons for several months. Once in an intellectual environment where he was required to read a lot and take nothing for granted, he developed the habit of regular work and acquired what he later called "the research streak."
At the age of 17, on the advice of Eber, M.d.G. read War and Peace. Tolstoy made an indelible impression on the young man, the desire to write himself after that became even stronger.
Soon Roger enters the Sorbonne, however, having failed the exam, he leaves the university and in the same year enters the Ecole de Chart, the highest archival and historical educational institution. Although subsequently M.d.G. said that he did not know why he chose this specialty, it played a huge role in the development of his writing technique, which was based on the pedantic scientific methodology laid down by Professor Mellerio.
In 1905 M.d.G. received a diploma of paleographer-archivist for his work on the abbey of Jumièges near Rouen. A year later, the young man marries Helene Foucault, the daughter of a Parisian lawyer.
Settling in Paris, M.d.G. conceives a long novel in the spirit of Tolstoy about a village priest, the prototype of which may have been his mentor Hebert. However, after a year and a half of work, the aspiring writer realizes that he cannot afford a novel of this magnitude. Deeply depressed, M.d.G. tormented by grave doubts about his vocation; in 1907, his daughter Christina was born, whose future he must ensure, and in the spring of 1908, literally in a few weeks, as they say - in one breath, M.d.G. writes "Becoming" ("Devenir!"). the story of a man who wants to become a writer, but all his attempts to compose something, as well as to find personal happiness, end in failure. The writer publishes this novel at his own expense - and from that moment on he becomes a professional writer.
Started working on next work, which he was going to call "Marise" ("Marise"), M.d.G. again feels that his capabilities do not match his ambitions, and begins to look for topics that are closer to his life experience. In general, exactingness was hallmark M.d.G., who often burned his manuscripts if he found them unsatisfactory. Abandoning Maryse, M.d.G. writes the novel "Jean Barois" ("Jean Barois", 1913), which became the first significant work of the writer, which brought him success. Using an innovative for that time technique of combining dialogue and a historical document, M.d.G. depicts a young man torn between rationalism and faith. The novel gives bright picture the political scandal that broke out around the French army officer Alfred Dreyfus - a scandal that had a devastating effect on the entire structure of French society late XIX- the beginning of the XX century. Jean Barois was published on the recommendation of André Gide, who became a close friend of M.d.G. and with whom he corresponded for many years.
During World War I, M.d.G. serves in the French army on the Western Front. Demobilized in 1919, he worked for some time in the Parisian theater, and in 1920 he moved to his parents' estate in Central France, where he began to write his famous novel“The Thibault Family” (“Les Thibault”), 8 volumes of which were published from 1922 to 1940. The novel, which takes place in the first twenty years of the 20th century, depicts two bourgeois families, one Catholic, the other Protestant. Telling about the life of two main characters, the Thibaut brothers - Jacques.
a socialist and revolutionary, and Antoine, a doctor with more conservative views, the author shows the decline of pre-war society. The Thibault Family, like other books by M.d.G., was written in the genre of roman fleuve (literally, a multi-volume novel) - a detailed narrative based on historical documents. In 1931, the writer gets into car accident and had to stay in the hospital for two months. During this time, he revised the plan of the remaining parts of the novel, revised the ending, and most importantly, changed the emphasis, turning, as in Jean Barois, to the technique of a historical document. According to the English critic Martin Seymour-Smith, The Thibault Family “impresses with its details, the relief of the main characters, its honesty; of the major novels of our century, The Thibault Family is the most tragic.
In 1937 M.d.G. The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded "for the artistic power and truth in the depiction of man, as well as the most essential aspects of modern life." Having dwelled on the novel The Thibault Family, a member of the Swedish Academy, Per Hallstrom, notes that, “having subjected the human soul to a scrupulous and skeptical analysis, M.d.G. finally extols the idealism of the human spirit.” In a response speech, M.d.G. spoke out against dogmatism, which, in his opinion, characterizes the life and thinking of people of the 20th century. He hailed "an independent personality who avoids the lure of fanatical ideologies and is focused on self-discovery." While Adolf Hitler was threatening Europe with a new war, M.d.G. expressed the hope that his work "can serve not only literature, but also the cause of peace."
During the years of the creation of the "Thibaut Family" M.d.G. also wrote "African Confession" ("Confidence africaine", 1931) - a very frank story about incest, "Silent" ("Un Taciturne", 1932) - psychological play, which showed the writer's interest in homosexuality, as well as "Old France" ("Vieille France", 1933) - a cynical and caustic description of the French peasantry, a story uncharacteristic of his work both in tone and in theme. After 1940, the writer worked for 17 years on the epic novel "The Diaries of Colonel Maumor" ("Les Souvenirs du colonel Maumort"), which remained unfinished. M.d.G. died of a heart attack in his Norman mansion at the age of 77.
Throughout the life of M.d.G. was a man unsociable, extremely closed, believing that his books should speak for the writer. A few months before his death, he put his papers in order, incl. the enormous correspondence and diary he kept from 1919 to 1949; both the letters and the diary, on his orders, were transferred to the National Library in Paris, where they were kept unopened for 25 years. However, despite his modesty, unwillingness to be seen, M.d.G., as his biographer Catherine Savage writes, "enjoyed great respect among his contemporaries." According to Savage, “exploring contemporary social problems in a realistic way, M.d.G. remained faithful 19th tradition in. and at the same time pointed out the ways for the further development of the novel.
Nobel Prize Laureates: Encyclopedia: Per. from English - M .: Progress, 1992.
© The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.
© Translation into Russian with additions, Progress Publishing House, 1992.
Aqueduct Pont du Gard (France) - description, history, location. Exact address, phone number, website. Reviews of tourists, photos and videos.
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If you need a living example of a historical and architectural paradox, then southern France is the best suited for this: the monuments of the era of the Roman Empire are more numerous than in Italy itself, and even more preserved than an example. The Nimes Amphitheater still hosts theatrical performances, and the world's highest Roman aqueduct Pont du Gard even managed to serve as a road bridge until the second half of the last century.
This paradox has an explanation: the territories of Provence and Languedoc became part of France quite a long time ago, and subsequent historical storms passed them - in contrast to Italy, torn apart by internecine wars.
"... worked out by the slaves of Rome"
The dimensions of the Pont du Gard aqueduct can amaze even in the 21st century: the length of the structure is 275, and the height is 49 m (For comparison, this is the height of a modern 16-story building!). But no matter how grandiose the current bridge is, in fact it is only part of an ancient water pipeline 50 km long. It supplied Him with water for half a millennium, and its throughput was sufficient for each inhabitant of a 50,000-strong city to consume up to 400 liters of water per day. The height difference between the start and end points of the water pipeline was only 17 m (or 34 cm per kilometer). How Roman engineers managed to achieve such incredible accuracy is still a mystery to historians.
The Romans did not suffer from megalomania and did not waste resources on stupid things like Egyptian pyramids: besides practical functions, their constructions had a clear political goal - to inspire the conquered peoples in awe of the power of the Empire and destroy the very idea of \u200b\u200bresistance in the bud.
Another mystery of the Garsky bridge is hidden in its design. It was built simple connection six-ton blocks of stone joint-to-joint - without the use of binding components (although the Romans were well aware of the properties of concrete - because they themselves invented it). It is surprising that this structure has stood for two millennia, because the conditions in the Gardon River Valley are extremely difficult: in spring and autumn, the bridge's piers suffer from floods, and the three-level structure as a whole is exposed to wind erosion all year round.
It is possible that the entire water supply could survive to this day, but it was not ruined by bungling builders or vandalism, not by wars or natural disasters, but by the properties of local water - it contains too much lime. After the death of the Empire, there was no one to clean the water supply from deposits, and it just clogged up. The stones of an already useless design were used to build houses and fortresses, and the Pont du Gard survived because they found another use for it - as a bridge.
Pont du Gard today
The Old Bridge has finally found a well-deserved rest: traffic on it has been stopped, since 1985 it has been under the protection of UNESCO, and now only tourists walk under the arched vaults. A museum has been equipped near the bridge, playgrounds, souvenir shops and restaurants with cafes are nearby - in a word, everything you need to slowly and comfortably explore the unique heritage of Rome - the majestic Pont du Gard.
Practical Information
GPS coordinates: 43° 56" 50; 4° 32" 08.
The Pont du Gard is open 7 days a week all year round. Ticket category "Short excursion" (Pont du Gard, Museum, Cinema, Game Library, route "Memory of Gariga", Expositions) - 9.50 EUR, Ticket "Aqueduct": "Short excursion" + excursion along the canal accompanied by a guide) - 14 EUR. Evening ticket for illumination (only in June, July, August and September) - 5 EUR. The opening hours of the museum depend on the season, the information is regularly updated on the official website. Prices on the page are for March 2019.
How to get there: By car, take the A9 motorway to exit 23, then follow the signs for Pont du Gard. You can use buses A15 (from Avignon) or B21 (from Nimes) - in both cases, the journey will take about half an hour.
Address: France, Gardon River (formerly Gard), Gard department, near the city of Remulan
Completion of construction: 19 BC
Length: 275 m
Height: 47 m
Coordinates: 43°56′49″N,4°32′9″E
It is on the UNESCO World Heritage List
Where can you see the majestic monuments of architecture and history, built during the prosperity of the great Roman Empire? An ignorant tourist will most likely answer this question: “Of course, in Rome!”.
Undoubtedly, this is partly true: Roman sights annually attract the attention of millions of tourists from all over the world. However, there are structures built by the ancient Romans that are not in Italy. One of them is a huge aqueduct called the Pont du Gard, which the builders of another 2 millennia (and maybe much earlier) “threw” across the Gardon river, which flows near Remulan.
By the way, in ancient times this river was called somewhat simpler, Gar, hence the name of the world's highest aqueduct, listed by specialists in the list World Heritage UNESCO - Pont du Gard.
The French aqueduct built by the Romans is 275 meters long and just over 47 meters high. For comparison, the height of the Pont du Gard is exactly the same as the height of a modern sixteen-story building. In addition, despite the inexorable course of time, the strongest gusts of wind and the constant spring floods of the Gard River, the aqueduct has survived to this day in excellent condition, which cannot but attract a huge number of travelers to this department of France who want to see the oldest attraction and enjoy the surroundings. picturesque landscapes. By the way, the Pont du Gard aqueduct is considered by historians, archaeologists and architects to be the tallest structure of its kind ever erected by the Romans. And they built a lot of aqueducts: the desire of the entire population great empire to the cleanliness of the body went down in history.
Aqueduct Pont du Gard: features of architecture and its purpose
Before you start talking about the construction of the Pont du Gard aqueduct, it should be clarified that the exact date of its construction is unknown. Many historians refer to the fact that it was first mentioned in ancient Roman chronicles dating back to the 1st century AD. However, there are experts who, after a series of studies they have carried out, claim that the aqueduct across the Gar River appeared no later than the 19th year before (!) the advent of our era by order of Marcus Agrippa. Be that as it may, in any case, modern architects fail to explain exactly how this miracle appeared on the territory of modern France. The thing is that if you look at the Pont du Gard, you can draw a definite conclusion: a three-tiered aqueduct has been standing in its place for more than 2,000 years with the help of six pillars. However, the calculations of specialists showed that only one (!) Of these six supports is a carrier, and the stability of the structure built by the ancient Romans depends only on it.
Naturally, the wealth of the great Roman Empire allowed its rulers to build huge palaces, forums and statues. The construction of the aqueduct would have remained one of many, if not for a few "buts" ... Even with the help of cutting-edge technologies and computers, it is not possible to explain how this gigantic structure was built, and who was that brilliant architect who managed without computer science make all your calculations, taking into account the smallest details.
In addition, one should take into account the fact that all the stones (the weight of each of them is approximately 6 tons) are not bonded with mortar: they are ideally fitted to each other in such a way that even now, after 20 centuries, it is impossible to insert between them blade of knife. “How did a bridge built without the use of cement last so long?”, A person unfamiliar with architecture may ask a question. The answer to this question lies in the fact that in ancient times the Romans could not accurately calculate the reliability and durability of the building they built, and therefore erected the Pont du Gard with a double margin of safety.
As mentioned above, the Pont du Gard consists of three tiers and is part of a 50-kilometer plumbing system that supplied the purest water city of Nimes. It is worth noting that the water may have been the purest, but far from safe for human health. It turns out that the pipe, through which life-giving moisture came to the townspeople, was cast ... from lead. Already in those distant times, the Roman Empire knew that this metal accumulates in the body over time and leads to severe poisoning. However, this fact was taken into account by the architect, who knew about the properties of the water flowing through the aqueduct. It was extremely hard, and in a short period of time all the pipes were covered with limescale: contact with lead was minimal. Thanks to this ancient plumbing system and its part of the Pont du Gard, each inhabitant of Nimes could use more than 400 liters of water per day for personal purposes! By the way, the population of this city at the beginning of our era was 50,000 people. One can imagine how many cubic meters of water passed daily through lead pipes covered with limescale.
Pont du Gard: a new story
It cannot be said that the history of part of the long aqueduct has always been cloudless: 800 years after its construction, it ceased to fulfill the functions assigned to it, and locals decided to use some parts of the Pont du Gard to build their houses. Fortunately, this state of affairs did not last long. The Romans and Franks often crossed this structure from one side of the Gar River to the other.
The destruction of this majestic crossing was not part of their plans, therefore, various punishments were provided for such an attitude towards the ancient structure. This played a decisive role in the fact that the Pont du Gard has survived to our time almost in its original form. Another important fact: the passage on the bridge in the Middle Ages became paid: the price for the crossing was quite high: ordinary peasants could not afford to travel along the most interesting part of the aqueduct.
Naturally, one cannot fail to mention the name of Napoleon III, who ordered to build another bridge not far from the 275-meter crossing, which is one of the main attractions of the Gard department. After the construction of a new bridge in 1747, traffic along the Pont du Gard was closed and part of the famous ancient Roman aqueduct was restored.
Pont du Gard: useful information for tourists
To get to the majestic Pont du Gard, you should sign up for an excursion in advance. Most often, groups gather in the city of Nimes. By the way, in it even now you can see a water collector with a diameter of just over 6 meters, where all the water from the 50-kilometer aqueduct came. This "pool" even has Latin name- Castellum divisorium. Most of the popular tourist routes pass far from architectural masterpiece built during the Roman Empire. Therefore, only in organized group you can enjoy the grandeur of this landmark and the talent of the architect and builders, thanks to which it was born.
It is also interesting that there is a fashionable hotel very close to the Pont du Gard bridge. It can only be called fashionable because of the exorbitant high prices. It has only 10 rooms: a night in one of them will cost a tourist at least 80 euros. It should be remembered that the hotel called Le Vieux Moulin has neither television nor access to the World Wide Web. The owners of this hotel believe that travelers come to the area to see the aqueduct and enjoy the beauty of untouched nature, and not to watch TV or surf the Internet.
