Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque
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How it came to be
The Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque is a 16th-century water system on the Central Mexican Plateau, between the states of Mexico and Hidalgo. It includes a catchment area, springs, canals, distribution tanks and arcaded aqueduct bridges, among them the highest single-level arcade ever built in an aqueduct.
It was begun by the Franciscan friar Francisco de Tembleque, a native of the province of Toledo in Spain, who reached New Spain in 1542 and set out to bring water to the town of Otumba, which lacked it. On 2 February 1553 the indigenous leaders of Otumba signed an agreement asking the town of Zacuala, which controlled the springs below the Tecajete hill, for water. The work was carried out mainly by indigenous people and combined the European tradition of Roman hydraulics with Mesoamerican building methods, including adobe.
The best-known section is the main arcade over the Papalote ravine, whose tallest arch stands 38.75 m high. In 1960 the historian Ángel María Garibay studied the glyphs painted on this arcade. The aqueduct was placed on the Tentative List on 20 November 2001 and inscribed on 5 July 2015 by the World Heritage Committee meeting in Bonn.
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