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Origin and history

The Roman aqueduct of Divona was built to supply water to the ancient city of Divona Cadurcorum (now Cahors). Its 33 km track, with an average slope of 0.11%, connected a source near Murcens's poppidum to the Roman baths of Cahors, of which Diane's Arc remains. The oldest dating, based on chemical analyses, places its construction between -10 and 10 AD, although the thermal baths it served were built between the 1st and 2nd centuries.

An ancient tradition attributed its construction to Pontius Polemius, prefect of Gauls, because of a dedicated brick discovered in the seventeenth century. However, Didier Rigal's research invalidated this hypothesis, with known Polemius occurring after the construction period. It would have operated until the fourth or fifth century, in parallel with the use of the thermal baths.

The main collection, located below Murcens's Loppidum, included several basins and a dam on the Vers. This choice could reflect the shift of the population from Murcens to Divona after the Roman conquest. The building, which was listed as a historical monument in 1953, crosses 784 private properties and has an estimated flow of 11,000 m3 per day.

The remains visible today, especially in the commune of Vers, bear witness to a remarkable Roman engineering. The lake ran along the valley of the Vers then the Lot, with a total elevation of 38 m. Its inscription as a historic monument (26 November 1953) protects key sections, including precise cadastral plots (E 294, B 401, etc.).

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