Perched in the Puig de Sant Andreu, in the Baix Empordà, the Iberian town of Ullastret is the largest Iberian settlement discovered so far in Catalonia. The city, flanked by towering walls, served as the capital of all the indiketa territory, which exploited agriculture, livestock farming, mines and quarries. It was the centre of an important commercial interchange with the Greek city of Empúries, which exported its products and also imported foreign production. Ullastret dominates the landscape of the Empordà and has been testimony to one of the most important archaeological finds of recent years: that of the severed heads of Ullastret.
This exceptional discovery was made in the year 2012, when the excavations in a stretch of the street uncovered 15 human cranial fragments, among which were two embedded heads. It is a ritual of Celtic origin which had already been described by classical authors such as Posidonius of Apamea or Diodorus of Sicily, and which consisted of displaying the heads of the defeated enemy as trophies of war.
Although the Ullastret complex consists of two Iberian villages, it is only the ruins of Puig de Sant Andreu, which are visitable, corresponding to the last stage of occupation of the town by the indiketes (3rd century BC). The route allows you to view the largest and oldest muralla ibèrica in Catalonia, reinforced with six circular towers.
Visitors can ‘enter’ the rectangular houses, from the most modest up to the constructions made for the most important families of the Iber aristocracy, walk down the cobbled street and discovered the water collection system using cisterns in the rock, a copy of those still existing in the Greek colony in Empúries. The spiritual life of the ancient inhabitants of Ullastret has left its mark with the remains of three temples, from the 4th and the 3rd century BC. The complex is completed with the Ullastret Monographic Museum, which allows interpretation of the site and also to find out about the Iberian culture in the north-east of Catalonia. The Ullastret complex is one of the branches of the Museum of Archaeology of Catalonia.
Do not miss out on the organised activities, workshops and visits to the Ullastret complex which allows you to find out what life was like for the Iberians.
From 1st October to 31st May
Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm
Closed on Mondays
From 1st June to 30th September
Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 8 pm
Closed on Mondays
Easter Holy Week: summer opening hours
Closed: 1st and 6th January, 25th and 26th December
Guided visit:
MAC Ullastret
Afores s/n
Puig de Sant Andreu
17114 Ullastret
Tel. (+34) 972179058