Montefurado, the Roman tunnel that changed the course of the

Montefurado Tunnel Montefurado Tunnel. by cribea There is a place in Lugo , near the municipality of Quiroga , where the Romans left their mark on nature in an unusual and very ingenious way. They proposed to change nothing more and nothing less than the layout of a river: the Sil, to be more specific. And this was almost 20 centuries ago, thus giving rise to a very curious work of engineering within Roman gold mining. We are talking about a tunnel excavated in the rock by order of Emperor Trajan and which today is known as the Montefurado tunnel. That name also reaches a small village nearby. Montefurado means pierced mountain , so the name could not be more descriptive of what the Romans did there. An artificial tunnel from the 2nd century is something striking, but the reason behind its construction was a brilliant idea. Gold produced works from the Roman era that were as impressive as they were ingenious. Montefurado Montefurado. 

Roman engineering is amazing and we all admire their constructions and the structure of their sites when we see them in front of us. But a peculiarity of the case we are going to talk about is that the hand of man is almost not perceived in that place. But once we know what they did there almost 20 centuries ago, one cannot help but be amazed, because they changed the course of the river on purpose. Let's see why someone went to so much trouble. The River Sil carried gold, at least in Cell Phone Number List Roman times The northwest of the Iberian Peninsula was an exceptional mining resource for the Romans. Gold was essential for the government of Rome, and that is why it was not strange that great economic and human efforts were put into this end. The latter, human means, were not a big problem, since local labor and slaves did much of the work. But in this case of the Montefurado tunnel what stands out is the idea, above everything else. 

Montefurado Tunnel Montefurado Tunnel. By beatrizgf There is a popular phrase, a saying, we could say, that assures that: the Sil carries the water and the Miño carries the fame . The moral of the saying is not relevant, but this saying does help us understand the importance and entity of the Sil River, which runs almost 250 kilometers and doubles the average annual flow of the Miño, of which it is the main tributary. In addition to water, the Sil River carried gold, at least in Roman times. And that's where it all begins. The case of Montefurado Montefurado Tunnel Montefurado Tunnel. by cribea The gold was reaching the river as the rainwater and the river itself ripped it out of the ground and put it into the bed. The very flow of the river dragged it and grazed it on the bed, moving it little by little. The gold was there, in the water, and you just had to catch it. But it wasn't that easy. That is why the Romans had a multitude of works and mining work along the banks of the river. To go one step beyond all that effort, they had a surprising and bold idea. The idea was complex, but its execution was even more so. The river carried gold that was deposited on the bed, on the sand at the bottom, as we have said.