Architectural description
Puente Nuevo de Ronda
There were two major projects for the realization of this work. The first of the year 1735, reigning Felipe Quinto, which consisted of an arch of 35 meters in diameter, whose works lasted only 8 months, but which was unsuccessful because six years later it collapsed, causing the death of approximately 50 people.
A few years later the works began, specifically in 1751 and ended in May 1793, coinciding with the celebration of the Royal May Fair in Ronda. In total, more than 40 years were invested, being headed by the architect Don José Martín de Aldehuela, a native of the town of Manzanera in Teruel.
This 98-meter-high masterpiece, built on stone ashlars extracted from the bottom of the Tajo gorge, allowed the connection of the modern neighborhood or the Mercadillo with the old neighborhood of the city and made possible the urban expansion of the city. From its balconies, the views of the houses hanging over the very edge of the cliff are spectacular. It has three bodies formed by semicircular arches; the lower one acts as a stirrup; the second is large, flanked by two buttresses, from which the arches of the lateral streets of the upper body start. The central street is a barrel-vaulted enclosure with two balconies.
