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Bridges

Aqueduc de Buc

  • Also Known As: Arcades de Buc

  • Address: Rue du Regiment Royal de Normandie
  • Vicinity: Jean Casale
  • Type: Aqueduct
  • Travel Genus: Sight
  • Sight Category: Structure

The Buc Aqueduct, erected in the latter years of the 17th century, stands in the commune of Buc within Yvelines, France. Begun in 1684 and brought to completion in 1686, it was contrived to bear the waters across the valley of the Bievre as part of the grand hydraulic design that fed the fountains of Versailles. Commissioned by the Minister Louvois, the work was designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart and executed by soldiers of the Royal Regiment of Normandy under the vigilant direction of Thomas Gobert.

Its nineteen arcades, fashioned of millstone with ashlar quoins and bands, stride the valley with sober majesty. The channel itself extends some 580 metres, rises 24 metres above the ground, and is a narrow conduit of a little more than a metre in width and nearly two metres in depth, secured beneath heavy stone slabs. A modest house for the hydraulic officers is joined to the structure, bearing witness to the continual care such engineering works required. - AsNotedIn

Haute-Vallee de la Bievre, on the east side of the Buc Aqueduct off the Route de Jouy, is a rural hiking area in the Versailles Forest. A path leads beneath the arcades of the aqueduct while other follows the banks of the Bievre River, winding through a quiet valley of trees. - AsNotedIn


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Timeline

Y/M/D Person Association Description Composition Food Event
Y/M/D Person Association Description Composition Food Event
1683/10/00 The new Royal Superintendent of Buildings, Marquis de Louvois, commissions the erection of the Buc aqueduct during an expansion of Colbert's water system.
1684/00/00 Jules Hardouin-Mansart Architect Construction begins on a new aqueduct crossing Bievre valley, conveying water to the Gobert reservoir.
1686/06/13 The Buc Aqueduct, cast in noble arcades across the valley of the Bievre, is brought into service, bearing the King's waters with the steady majesty befitting the works of His Majesty's engineers.

Data »

Particulars for Aqueduc de Buc:
Structure Aqueduct
Bridge Type Arch Bridge
Structure type Bridge
Area of Significance Engineering
Science Hydrology
Construction Attribute Masonry
Sight Category Structure
Historic Use Water Works




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