The Pont Julien is a Roman stone arch bridge

Roman bridge

Roman bridges, built by ancient Romans, were the first large and lasting bridges built. Roman bridges were built with stone and had the arch as its basic structure....

 over the Calavon

Calavon

The Calavon is an long river in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Vaucluse départements, southeastern France. Its source is near Banon. It flows generally west-southwest...

 river in the south-east of France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 dating to 3 BC

3 BC

Year 3 BC was a common year starting on Wednesday or Thursday of the Julian calendar and a common year starting on Tuesday of the Proleptic Julian calendar...

.

It is located in the territory of the commune of Bonnieux

Bonnieux

Bonnieux is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.-Geography:Bonnieux is one of the many historic "hill villages" in the region. Dating back to Roman times, it rests on top of the Luberon hills casting a watchful gaze across the rest of...

, north of the village of the same name, and
8km west of Apt

Apt, Vaucluse

Apt is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.It lies on the left bank of the Calavon, east of Avignon...

. Originally, it was built on the Via Domitia

Via Domitia

The Via Domitia was the first Roman road built in Gaul, to link Italy and Hispania through Gallia Narbonensis, across what is now southern France. The route that the Romans regularised and paved was ancient when they set out to survey it, so old that it traces the mythic route travelled by Heracles...

, an important Roman road

Roman road

The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...

which connected Italy to the Roman territories in France. It was used for car traffic
until 2005, when a replacement bridge was built to preserve it from wear and tear. This amounts to some 2000 years of uninterrupted use.

The bridge's natural stones were cut to a precise fit, and were not cemented with any mortar.

External links

• Traianus – Technical investigation of Roman public works