Eifel Aqueduct - The Aqueduct As A Stone Quarry

The Aqueduct As A Stone Quarry

The Eifel aqueduct was destroyed by Germanic tribes in 260 during an attack on Cologne, and was never brought back into operation, even though the city continued to exist. In the course of the migration of the various tribes through the region, aqueduct technology fell out of use and knowledge. The entire aqueduct remained buried in the earth some 500 years, until the Carolingians began new construction in the Rhine valley. As this area has relatively little naturally occurring stone, the aqueduct became a favoured place for obtaining building materials. Transportable sections of the aqueduct were used to build the city wall around Rhinebach, for instance. Some of these sections still have the sealing plaster from the aqueduct intact. Thus all of the above-ground sections, and a good part of the underground construction as well, were dismantled and reused in medieval construction.

Particularly desirable as a building material were the limestone-like accretions from the inside of the aqueduct. In the course of operation of the aqueduct, many sections had a layer as thick as 20 centimetres (7.9 in). The material had a consistency similar to brown marble and was easily removable from the aqueduct. Upon polishing, it showed veins, and it could also be used like a stone board when cut flat. This artificial stone found use throughout the Rhineland and was very popular for columns, window frames, and even altars. Use of "Eifel marble" can be seen as far east as Paderborn and Hildesheim, where it was used in the cathedrals. The Danish cathedral at Roskilde is the northernmost location of its use, where several gravestones are made of it.

Medieval legend held that the aqueduct was an underground passage from Trier to Cologne. According to the legend, the Devil had bet the architect of the Cologne cathedral that he could build this tunnel faster than the cathedral could be erected. The architect took the bet and drove the men to work with great haste. One day, the construction workers broke into the aqueduct, where flowing water could be seen. The Devil's giggling is said to have driven the architect to suicide by jumping from the half-finished cathedral tower. Supposedly, the architect's death (and not the lack of funds) was the cause of the centuries-long delay in the completion of the construction.

A few medieval writings on the aqueduct lost sight completely of the original purpose of the construction. Some say that it carried not water, but wine to the city, for example, the Gesta Treverorum of Maternus, Bishop of Cologne, (4th century) and the Hymn to Saint Anno of the 11th century.