Since at least 1602 there had been plans to build a system of canals to bring water from the source of the Carioca river, located on Santa Teresa hill, to Rio de Janeiro.Construction of the first aqueduct was finished in 1723, and clean water flowed directly to a decorative Baroque fountain in Santo Antônio Square, to the relief of the people of Rio de Janeiro.The works were encharged to Portuguese military engineer José Fernandes Pinto Alpoim, who was inspired by similar structures in Portugal, like the Águas Livres Aqueduct in Lisbon.The most impressive feature of the aqueduct is the course that connects the hills of Santa Teresa and Santo Antônio, in today's Lapa neighbourhood.[2] In response, all service was indefinitely suspended, but plans to rebuild the line and replace the old tramcars (with faux-vintage replicas) were subsequently approved.
The Carioca Aqueduct by painter Leandro Joaquim (c. 1790). Santa Teresa hill and its convent are seen to the left. The lagoon in the foreground was landfilled to build the
Passeio Público
.
