Description
The Can Vernet Bridge is an aqueduct that the Monastery built in the 14th century to carry water from the Monks' Mine to the Monastery. It was part of the water supply system in the Royal Monastery and in the lower part of the old town of Sant Cugat. In the archaeological excavations carried out in 2001 in Plaça d'Octavià, the conduits of the last section of this pipeline were revealed.
Since 1979, it has been listed as an Asset of Local Interest.
The gothic aqueduct is formed by a bridge with two semicircular eyes, all made of well-squared Monastery stones.
At the top is the water channel which was conveniently covered with slabs facilitating the passage from one side of the torrent to the other.
Part of the retaining wall was demolished in the 1960s to join the two orchards.
In 1998, as a supplement to the urbanization interventions in the Pont de Can Vernet-Coll Favà sector, to which the green area of the site belongs, the aqueduct was restored. It was rehabilitated as a pedestrian walkway between Carrer de la Mina and Avenida Vullpalleres, according to a design by the architects Joan Roig and Enric Batlle.
The walkway is a set of rolled steel pieces welded together to obtain a profile that includes pavement, railing and a corrugated bench. These are placed on the stones of the aqueduct with non-destructive fixings and treated with a resin that gives the structure an old iron oxide finish. This aesthetic refers to industrial constructions and public engineering iron works.