Cross­ing the Tagus Riv­er at Alcán­tara in Spain, the Alcán­tara Bridge is a mas­ter­piece of ancient Roman bridge build­ing. The bridge was built between 104 and 106 by an order of the Roman Emper­or Tra­jan in 98 AD, who is hon­ored by a tri­umphal arch in the cen­ter of the bridge and a small tem­ple at one end.

The Alcán­tara Bridge has tak­en more dam­age from war than from the ele­ments. The Moors destroyed the small­est arch on one side while the sec­ond arch on the oth­er side was destroyed by the Span­ish to stop the Por­tuguese.