The Guadiana

The Guadiana and the Lusitania bridge, in Mérida

The Guadiana is the river that has crossed Mérida forever, spanned by the modern Lusitania bridge, masterpiece of the architect Santiago Calatrava. The Mérida audio-guided tour stops here to evoke this nourishing watercourse of the ancient Emerita Augusta and the elegant work of 1991, whose name recalls that the town was the capital of Roman Lusitania.

The nourishing river and the bridge of Calatrava

You have here a clear view over the Guadiana and the new Lusitania bridge. The latter takes its name from the fact that the ancient Emerita Augusta was the capital of Lusitania, a Roman imperial province that covered a good part of present-day Portugal as well as the regions of León and Extremadura. The bridge was built at the end of the twentieth century by the famous Spanish architect and engineer Santiago Calatrava, to whom we owe numerous masterpieces of contemporary architecture, like the station of the airport of Lyon-Saint-Exupéry, the City of arts and sciences of Valencia or the auditorium of Tenerife. Our Lusitania bridge, with its great arch of white steel that reflects in the waters of the river, is one of his finest works, combining technical feat and elegance of lines. It dialogues at a distance with the nearby Roman bridge, two thousand years old: on one side Antiquity, on the other the twenty-first century, both spanning the same river. The Guadiana, for its part, has flowed at the foot of Mérida forever; it takes its source in the southern sub-plateau of the Meseta and flows into the Atlantic Ocean. Its waters nourished and watered the Roman town, feeding aqueducts and fountains. Lined with verdant parks, the river offers magnificent sunsets and fine promenades. A historic river and a contemporary bridge, the Guadiana is a fine stop of the discovery of Mérida.

What to see

You admire the Guadiana, nourishing river of the ancient Emerita Augusta that has flowed at the foot of the town forever, and the modern Lusitania bridge, an elegant work with a great arch of white steel built by the architect Santiago Calatrava, whose name recalls that Mérida was the capital of the Roman province of Lusitania; the bridge dialogues at a distance with the twice-millennial Roman bridge. The Guadiana is a historic river of Mérida. It is a fine stop, to be explored on foot.

Practical information

The Guadiana crosses Mérida, spanned by the Lusitania bridge and the Roman bridge, reachable on foot. The banks laid out as parks are freely accessible and offer fine promenades and magnificent sunsets. You discover them during a walk at the edge of the water.

Who built the Lusitania bridge of Mérida?

The famous Spanish architect and engineer Santiago Calatrava, at the end of the twentieth century; this elegant bridge with a great arch of white steel, that spans the Guadiana, takes its name from the Roman province of Lusitania of which Mérida was the capital, and dialogues at a distance with the twice-millennial Roman bridge.

Where is the Guadiana in Mérida?

At the foot of Mérida, spanned by the Lusitania bridge and the Roman bridge, in Spain.