El Puente del Monte in Ahigal (Cáceres): authorship and construction process of a submerged jewel in Upper Extremadura

Abstract

The river Alagón runs among other terms by Ahigal, dividing the territory in two for long periods. For it passage boats were used, that in addition to dangerous, as soon as they supplied the necessities of the pedestrians. At the end of the 19th century, faced with the need to build a bridge, the work of what would be known as Puente del Monte was carried out. Traditionally, it has been believed that the inhabitants of Ahigal paid for this work in its entirety, but it is not entirely correct, since Diputación de Cáceres would cover, in part, the amount of the project that we attributed to Emilio Mª Rodríguez and that was inspected by Vicente Paredes Guillén.

Eighty years later, the bridge will lose its civil engineering function when it remains, forever, submerged in the waters of Valdeobispo Dam.