Puente de Benamejí

Puente BENAMEJÍ

The large double arch stone bridge that crosses the River Genil is one of the most important works of its kind in the province of Córdoba, declared BIC (Bien de Interés Cultural - a category of the Spanish cultural heritage register). It is unusual that a bridge of such magnitude was constructed in the sixteenth century (1550 to 156). It was the project of Renaissance church architect Hernán Ruiz II and is the only example of a new project he started and finished himself.

It is certainly a cathedral of a bridge with one main span arch and two small side arches. Constructed from carefully cut stone blocks of identical colour. The two piers have semicircular which allow viewpoints on the carriageway which is surprisingly wide and overhangs the supports. The keystone of the main are has the coat of arms of the promoter Don Diego Burnay.

The bridge spans the Rio Genil one km to south of Benamejí, on the N-331 leading to El Tejar and Palenciana. It is possible to park and walk down to the river. The bridge is now partially obscured in thick woodland and seems rather grand for the size of the river whose flow was reduced when the Iznajar reservoir was built. The bridge suffered some damage in the storms of 2008 and was subsequently restored.

The bridge was superseded by the Benameji viaduct in the 1990s and again on 9th August 2009 when another even bigger 605m ling and 80m high viaduct was opened as the northern carriageway of the A-44 Antequera to Cordoba motorway. The older viaduct being the southern carriageway.

If you are driving to Benameji from Antequera and the south it is more interesting to leave the A-45 motorway at km 75 and take the N-331 through El Tejar and the old road that winds down into the deep Rio Genal Valley crossing the river on the old stone bridge.