Santa Clara Aqueduct

The Aqueduct of Santa Clara is the second largest Portuguese aqueduct system. Built between 1626 and 1714, it includes 999 arches stretching for 4 kilometres from the spring of Terroso in the municipality of Póvoa de Varzim to the Convent of Santa Clara in the municipality of Vila do Conde.Founded at the beginning of the 14th century, the monastic community of Santa Clara was always confronted with serious problems concerning the water supply to the monastery in the territory of Vila do Conde. At that time a tank was constructed within the monastery, which quickly became insufficient to meet the communities' needs. In 1626, the abbess D. Maria de Meneses, from the House of Pentieiros, purchased lands and contracted a master-builder to construct an aqueduct to bring waters from a spring in Terroso, in Póvoa de Varzim, to support the convent. The construction was interrupted by abbess D. Catarina Lima in 1636, owing to the discovery of a significant slope, making the prior work useless.

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