Aqueduto da Água de Prata

The Aqueduto da Água de Prata (“silver water aqueduct”) has brought water into Évora since 1537. It runs about 18 km from the Herdade do Divor, a country estate north of the city, and its final stretch runs right through the historic centre. You don’t need a ticket or an opening time: it is part of the streets.

For children the best part is what happened to it over the centuries. Out in the fields the arches are tall. As the aqueduct comes into town the ground rises and the arches get lower, until along Rua do Cano (“Pipe Street”) people have built houses, shops and garages into the spaces between the arches. Front doors, windows and washing lines sit inside a 500-year-old water pipe. A child who spots the first one usually wants to find all the others.

According to the council’s history, Évora’s water problem was old. Work on an aqueduct started half-heartedly around 1490, under King João II, and stalled again under King Manuel I. It finally went ahead between 1533 and 1539 under King João III, led by the royal master builder Francisco de Arruda. It took about six years.

The first “silver water” from the Divor reached Évora in late March 1537, on Maundy Thursday. The council’s pages give 28 and 29 March for the date. It arrived with a great ceremony in the main square, where a fountain decorated with marble lions stood beside an old Roman arch. The builders probably laid the new aqueduct over the line of an older Roman one.

The aqueduct was repaired in the 17th century after the wars of the Restoration and patched many times in the 19th and 20th centuries, but its overall shape has not changed. In 2016 the World Monuments Fund put it on its watch list of 50 monuments around the world, and the council has since run a LIFE project named after it.

The council’s leaflet “A Água em Évora” sets out a water-heritage route through the old town, which turns a stroll into a trail. Its stops include:

• The aqueduct arches themselves, running in along Rua do Cano.
• The Caixa de Água on Rua Nova, a small building like a classical temple with twelve Tuscan columns, built in 1536 or 1537. It let air into the water, let mud settle out and gave workers a way in to check the channel. It stands where the aqueduct cut through the old town wall.
• The fountain in Praça do Giraldo, a big marble fountain finished by 1571 and dedicated to the young King Sebastião. It replaced the lion fountain that first received the silver water.
• The Fonte-Chafariz da Porta de Moura, a marble fountain from 1556 with a line from a psalm carved on it.
• The iron fountain in Largo do Espírito Santo, paid for by public collection in 1895.
• The Roman temple and the Roman baths under the town hall, where you can see the hot room, the furnace and the site of a cold pool from the 1st century AD.
• The Museu Nacional Frei Manuel do Cenáculo, which has a marble lion from the first fountain in the main square and a piece of Roman lead pipe stamped with the town’s Roman name, proof that Roman Évora already piped water to homes.

Outside the walls, a second route takes in older springs and fountains, including the Chafariz dos Leões with two Roman marble lions and the Chafariz das Bravas, named after the “bravas”, women who caused trouble. In 1891 one of its tanks became a public wash-house, and in the early 20th century it held the town’s first public swimming pool.

The water museum unit

The last stop is the Central Elevatória de Água (CEA), a pumping station from 1933 that gave Évora its first system of water piped to homes. The council runs it as a small museum with a collection of water meters showing how water use was measured through the 20th century. In the 2022 leaflet it opened Monday to Friday only, 09:00 to 12:30 and 13:00 to 16:30, at Rua do Menino Jesus. Ring 266 777 072 to check before you go.

For a longer outing, there is a signed walking and cycling route alongside the aqueduct into the countryside, which Visit Évora, an independent guide, gives as 8.3 km, with views back to the city. It passes cork oak woods and farmland. You can also follow the aqueduct from Porta da Lagoa, on the road towards Arraiolos, into the historic centre, which is a much shorter walk for small legs.

The countryside route has little shade and the Alentejo gets very hot from June to September, so go early in the morning or in spring and autumn, and carry plenty of water.

This works for any age because it is free, outdoors and flexible. Toddlers can ride in a buggy through town on the flatter stretches, though Évora’s old streets are cobbled and some are steep. Children aged about five to ten enjoy the spotting game. Older children and teenagers can take on the history, including the Roman layers under the Renaissance ones.

A child who wants a museum with things to press will find it low on action. Treat it as a walking trail between Évora’s other sights.

The Capela dos Ossos, the chapel of bones in the church of São Francisco, is near where the aqueduct once ended at a tower, knocked down in 1873, that fed the Royal Palace and the monastery of São Francisco. The Museu do Relógio, a clock museum, is another indoor stop in the old town. Out of town, the Cromeleque dos Almendres stone circle is older than any aqueduct. For a snack, Pão de Rala is a well-known Évora bakery.

Where is the best place to see the aqueduct in Évora?

Rua do Cano, where the arches come into the old town and houses are built inside them. The council lists the aqueduct as running from the Alto de São Bento side through Rua do Cano and part of Rua do Salvador.

Is it free?

Yes. The aqueduct is an open-air monument in the streets and fields, free at any time.

Can you walk along the aqueduct?

You can walk beside it. A signed route of about 8.3 km follows it into the countryside, and a shorter walk follows it from Porta da Lagoa into the centre.

Is it buggy-friendly?

The town stretch is manageable with a sturdy buggy, but the streets are cobbled and some are steep. The countryside route is better with a carrier.

How long do you need?

About an hour for the arches and fountains in town, or half a day if you walk out along the countryside route.