• Inaugurated by the President of the Junta de Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano Garcia-Page, the new facility enhances its heritage value, favors road circulation, and promotes efficiency and energy savings
  • This action is part of Iberdrola’s initiatives for the care and conservation of the historical and artistic wealth of our country. Improvements have been made to more than 40 monuments in Spain

One of Guadalajara’s most emblematic and historic monuments now boasts more efficient lighting, highlighting its important historical and heritage value. Iberdrola, through its Foundation in Spain, has been in charge of the ornamental project. It is a zenithal lighting that emulates sunlight, which, in addition to highlighting its relevance, provides greater energy efficiency with minimal CO2 emissions while avoiding glare on the bridge’s road traffic.

In total, more than 147 luminaires have been installed, tailor-made, and designed specifically for this project, with optics that have allowed lighting that highlights the “skin” of the bridge and with a warm color temperature following the color of the stone. The power of the luminaires, only 4.3 kW, guarantees their sustainability over time.

The lighting was inaugurated by Emiliano García-Page, president of the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha, in a ceremony attended by Fernando García, president of Fundación Iberdrola España, Alberto Rojo Blas, mayor of Guadalajara, Pablo Bellido Acevedo, president of the Cortes de Castilla-La Mancha, and Rosa Ana Rodríguez Pérez, minister of Education, Culture, and Sports.

The initiative, which is part of Iberdrola’s Illuminations Program, has had an investment of 150,000 euros and “is another example of the company’s commitment to Castilla-La Mancha, the conservation of the historical and artistic heritage of the region and the promotion of the social value of culture,” said Fernando García, president of the Iberdrola Foundation at the inauguration.

History and modernity, united in the new bridge light

“Illuminating from modernity the latent history of the Arab Bridge of Henares” is the title of the project that seeks to preserve and enhance the history of the monument through new lighting.

The origins of the bridge date back to the years of transition from the tenth to the eleventh century, in the Arab Caliphate, the time of Abderraman III. During the Middle Ages, it was considered a monumental bridge. In the early seventeenth century it suffered major damage in the War of Succession and was subsequently rebuilt in several interventions since the mid-nineteenth century until its last intervention in 1922 to widen the upper roadway with a new deck.

All these periods and their interventions can still be read in the bridge’s cuttings and materials.

Fundación Iberdrola with culture

Since its creation, Iberdrola has been committed to the energy, cultural and social development of the communities in which it is present. In this regard, Fundación Iberdrola España represents a further step in this commitment by promoting initiatives that contribute to improving people’s quality of life. One of the Foundation’s main areas of action focuses on the care, maintenance, and promotion of art and culture.

This project is in addition to others that the company has carried out in Castilla-La Mancha in recent years, including the illuminations of the Monastery of Uclés, the Old Bridge of Talavera de la Reina and the Plaza Mayor of Sigüenza, among others, as well as exhibition projects such as El Prado en las Calles or Un Patrimonio de Todos.