Pegões Aqueduct — Water for a Growing Monastic Machine
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Transcript
The Pegões aqueduct was constructed from the late sixteenth century to supply the Convent of Christ with reliable water. Its long line of channels and arcades crosses difficult ground west of Tomar before reaching the hilltop complex.
By this period the convent was a large institution with kitchens, dormitories, gardens and ritual spaces. Monumental religious life depended on mundane logistics: water had to arrive every day whether ceremonies were impressive or not.
The aqueduct therefore shifts attention from ideology to maintenance. Powerful institutions endure because somebody solves food, water, waste and repair—not only because kings commission façades.