Aqueducts in the former Yugoslavia

Aqueducts are bridges constructed to convey watercourses across gaps such as valleys or ravines. The term aqueduct may also be used to refer to the entire watercourse, as well as the bridge. Large navigable aqueducts are used as transport links for boats or ships. Aqueducts must span a crossing at the same level as the watercourses on each end.

The word aqueduct is derived from the Latin aqua ("water") and ducere ("to lead"), therefore meaning "to lead water". A modern version of an aqueduct is a pipeline bridge. They may take the form of tunnels, networks of surface channels and canals, covered clay pipes or monumental bridges.

Although particularly associated with the Romans, aqueducts were likely first used by the Minoans around 2000 BCE. The Minoans had developed what was then an extremely advanced irrigation system, including several aqueducts.

In the seventh century BCE, the Assyrians built an 80 km long limestone aqueduct, which included a 10 m high section to cross a 300 m wide valley, to carry water to their capital city, Nineveh.

Bridges were a distinctive feature of Roman aqueducts, which were built in all parts of the Roman Empire, from Germany to Africa, and especially in the city of Rome, where they supplied water to public baths and for drinking. Roman aqueducts set a standard of engineering that was not surpassed for more than a thousand years.

Navigable aqueducts, also called water bridges, are water-filled bridges to allow vessels on a waterway to cross ravines or valleys. During the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century, navigable aqueducts were constructed as part of the boom in canal-building. A notable revolving aqueduct has been made on the Bridgewater Canal. This allowed vessels to cross at high and low levels while conserving water that would be lost in the operation of locks.

On the territory of the former Yugoslavia exist three aqueducts: The Bar Aqueduct (Montenegro), Diocletianus Aqueduct near Split (Croatia), and Skopje Aqueduct (North Macedonia). The Bar Aqueduct in Montenegro is the one of the largest and best preserved aqueducts from the three.

The Bar Aqueduct, Montenegro

The Bar Aqueduct is a stone aqueduct located on the northern side of Stari Bar Fortress, 4 km north of the town of Bar in Montenegro. The Bar Aqueduct is the only remaining aqueduct in Montenegro, and one of the largest and best preserved aqueducts from the three remaining ones in the former Yugoslavia.

The aqueduct was constructed during the governance of the Ottoman Empire, in the 16th century, and included a bridge across a valley. It served as the water supply for Stari Bar, bringing water 3 km from a spring on Mount Rumija. The structure of the aqueduct bridge consists of seventeen large arches of varying widths, which are supported on eighteen massive pillars.

The water channel is formed on the upper surface of the aqueduct, where jointly connected stoneware pipes were placed, each being about 12 cm in diameter and 30 cm long. The entire construction is made of broken and roughly hewn stone.

After the devastating Montenegro earthquake on April 15, 1979, the aqueduct was completely destroyed. Later on it was completely renovated, so it can even be used to this day.

The Aqueduct of Diocletian, Croatia

The Aqueduct of Diocletian is an ancient Roman aqueduct near Split, Croatia, constructed during the Roman Empire to supply water to the palace of the emperor Diocletian, who was Augustus 284 to 305 AD, retired to Spalatum (former name of Split), and died there in 311.

The Aqueduct of Diocletian was constructed between the end of 3rd and beginning of the 4th century AD, at the same time as the palace.

The aqueduct took water from the river Jadro, 9 kilometres northeast of Diocletian's Palace, today Split's city centre, and brought water to the Palace over a height difference of 13 m.

The aqueduct was destroyed in the invasion of Goths in the middle of 6th century and did not work for thirteen centuries after that. The first reconstruction of the aqueduct took place during the reign of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1877–1880). The Diocletianic aqueduct was abandoned in 1932, when the modern water station was built in Kopilica, a peripheral area of Split. The best-preserved part of the aqueduct near Dujmovaca (Solin) has a maximum height of 16.5 m and a length of 180 m. The aqueduct is currently being restored.

The Skopje Aqueduct, North Macedonia

The Skopje Aqueduct is an aqueduct and archaeological site located in the neighbourhood of Vizbegovo, 2 km northwest of central Skopje, North Macedonia. The Skopje Aqueduct is the only aqueduct in Macedonia.

The question of when the Skopje Aqueduct was built is unclear. There are three theories:

during the reign of Rome (1st century); according to this theory the aqueduct fed water to Legionary settlement Scupi
during the reign of Byzantine Empire (reign of Emperor Justinian I); according to this theory, the aqueduct shipped water to the new settlement Justiniana Prima
during the reign of Ottoman Empire; according to this theory the aqueduct was built in the 16th century for the many Turkish public hamams

This aqueduct was in use until the eighteenth century. Only about 386 meters with 55 arches of this structure of stone and brick remain. It is assumed that the aqueduct took water from the spring Lavovec (village Gluvo in mountain Skopska Crna Gora), 9 kilometers northwest from Skopje and brought water to city center.

Last reviewed: 10 December 2022

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