Beyond speculations about whether the building was a mausoleum or a villa during the Roman era, the roman complex of Centcelles (Constantí) is unique for its 4th century mosaics. Exceptional architectural testament of the late-Roman period in Catalonia, since the year 2000, it has been included in the set of monuments of the ancient Tarraco which were declared a Unesco World Heritage Site.
The oldest remains of Centcelles are from a small rural building from the 2nd -1st Century BC, which later became a magnificent villa with a baths complex. The most notable area is the closed circular room with a dome where the mosaics are found. These are considered to be the oldest Christian-themed dome mosaics of the Roman world and are exceptional for their good state of preservation. They represent several scenes, organised into three areas: a hunt on the lower section, biblical scenes from the Old and the New Testament in the central part and figures of the four seasons at the top.
From the study of these mosaics and mural paintings, one could think that the villa was a mausoleum. Even so, its interpretation is still uncertain. The first hypothesis of the researchers suggested that the mosaics made reference to the tomb of Constant, son of the Emperor Constantine the Great. More recent researches, however, think that Centcelles was the late Roman villa of a notable person in the ecclesiastical or civil hierarchy.
The historical and monumental importance of the old Tarraco is reflected in the current Museu de Tarraco (Museum of Tarraco, MNAT), a reference centre for learning about life in this period. Formed during the first half of the 19th century, the MNAT is the oldest Museum in Catalonia within its field and its extensive collection masterfully illustrates the process of Romanisation of the Iberian Peninsula.
Located in a new building since 1960 in which a fragment of the wall has been preserved in situ underground. Among the most outstanding pieces recovered from ancient Tarraco, you can see part of a medallion (clipeus) with the representation of Jupiter-Ammon, the altar dedicated to the Numen of Augustuses (the divine power), a pedestal of a statue with an inscription dedicated to the genius of the Colonia of Tarraco, the statues of Bacchus, Hercules, Claudius and Minerva, the portrait of Nero Julius Caesar and the sarcophagi of the Lion and the Pedagogue.
Meriting their own chapter are the high-quality mosaics which are preserved in the Museum, such as the head of the Medusa -the best of those found in Tarraco- from the residential area of the city; one representing Euterpe, Muse of music, discovered in the Roman villa of Els Munts (Altafulla); the tombstone of Optimus, mosaic with inscription, found in the Early-Christian Necropolis in Tarragona; and the mosaic of the Fish which decorated a room of the Roman villa of Callípolis, in the municipality of Vila-seca.
Among the most extraordinary pieces at MNAT, is an articulated ivory doll found in the sarcophagus of a girl in the Necropolis of Tarraco and the bronze lamp decorated with a representation of a theatrical mask from the Roman villa of la Llosa.
In addition to the Archaeological Museum, MNAT manages the Necropolis of Tarraco, the Roman villa of Els Munts (Altafulla) and the Roman Complex of Centcelles (Constantí). It also includes the famous monuments of the Arch of Berà and the Tower of the Scipios – situated on the Via Augusta – as well as the Roman Theatre in the city. A complex of the highest order which has been a World Heritage Site since 2000 and which takes the visitor closer to a fundamental period in European history.
With 42 painted figures and 260 other images carved into the rock, La Roca dels Moros del Cogul, in Les Garrigues, is one of the most outstanding and best-conserved rock-art sites in Catalonia. Amongst the most outstanding scenes depicted are a hunting scene and a phallic dance, an exceptional representation of a ritual event, which lends credence to the idea of the cave being a place for religious practices.
This area of Les Garrigues has been inhabited continuously by humans since the Paleolithic period and the cave was used for about 5000 years as a place of worship. The last hunter-gatherers (8th - 5th millennium BC) left behind paintings known as Levantine art. Later, from the 5th- 2nd millennium BC, Neolithic groups covered up the reliefs in the rock to draw representations of their own beliefs (diverse representations that fall within the classification of schematic art ). Researchers have also identified later inscriptions from the Iberian and Roman periods, though many are illegible.
The Monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes stands on one of the peaks of the Serra de Rodes, a mountain range right by the sea in the north of Alt Empordà. It is one of the many testimonials of Catalan Romanesque architecture, but it may also be one of the most architecturally sophisticated.
From the 11th to the 14th century it was the main spiritual centre of the county of Empúries and its splendor can be seen in the large dimensions of the monastic complex. This comprises the church, the bell tower, the cloister, the sacristies, the conventional rooms for everyday living and the Palau de l’Abat (the Abbot's Palace).
The monastery is built in terraces in order to adapt to the terrain and the various buildings are arranged around the cloister and the church, built between the 10th and 11th centuries. In these two buildings you can see an exceptional example of Romanesque sculpture: the columns (original) and the capitals that crown them tell us about the classical influence that has marked this unique church.
On the outside, the ‘portalada’, designed by the Mestre de Cabestany, showed different scenes from the life of Christ carved in white marble. The scarce fragments that remain, give us a sample of their extraordinary quality, probably one of the best of its time.
From the monastery you can enjoy one of the best views of Cap de Creus. Shortly before reaching it, you will see the ruins of the medieval village of Santa Creu de Rodes, the most notable of these being the Church of Santa Helena de Rodes.
Tarragona and its surrounding area retains important traces of the Roman influence in the Iberian Peninsula. The archaeological complex of Tarraco was declared a World Heritage Site in 2000: the urban development of the city, as well as the density and the quality of the remains, make it a universal and incomparable asset.
The archaeological complex includes several monuments from the 3rd century BC until the 6th century AD, which are very well preserved. All of these are characteristic of provincial capitals, as was ancient Tarraco. The walls are notable for being the oldest construction in the city and an example of military engineering. Of the forum, the large square in which much of public life was focused, a section of arcade of the Basilica and part of a street are preserved; the rest of the complex is still hidden beneath the footprints of the modern buildings.
The theatre was built in an area outside the walls, very close to the forum and, as was usual, made use of the slope of the land. The three elements that define a Roman Theatre have been partially preserved: cavea (or the tiered seating), orchestra and scaena (stage). In the circus, the space where the cart races were run, a good part of the vaults and some sections of terracing, the remains of the façade and the podium, can be seen today, as well as some of the monumental doors through which the building was accessed.
But without doubt, the amphitheatre is the most iconic of the Roman trail in the city, and completes the trilogy of theatrical buildings. The characteristic arena is present – where all the spectacles were performed - surrounded by the cavea to accommodate the public; the remains visible today in the arena are from the Basilica and the Romanesque church of Santa Maria del Miracle ( 12th century), built on the same spot where the popular Saints of Tarragona, Fructuós, Auguri and Eulogi, suffered martyrdom.
On the outskirts of the city, near the Francolí River, the Early-Christian Necropolis constitutes one of the most extensive and important burial areas of Tarraco: this exceptional cemetery is considered the largest and most important in the whole of the west of the Roman Empire, with more than 2,000 burials.
Around Tarraco we find other buildings of great importance such as the Ferreres Aqueduct (Devil's bridge), the Triumphal Arch of Barà, the mausoleum of Centcelles, the Mèdol quarry and the Villa of Els Munts, among others.
Founded as a military camp by Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio, Tarraco prospered both thanks to its coastal location and to its position in relation to the land routes to the interior of the peninsula. Thus, the city became a Roman colony, head of a conventus -a judicial demarcation - and capital of the province of Hispania Citerior and Tarraconensis.
Located in the Sierra de Godall of Ulldecona, the Abrics de l'Ermita (the hermitage rock shelters) are the most important set of Levantine cave paintings in Catalonia and have been on the Unesco World Heritage list since 1998 and form part of the Route of Rock Art.
In this exceptional complex, the Neolithic man drew a world of beliefs or mythical stories related to the hunt. The steep cliffs of Godall were a place conducive to capturing animals and so you can see in the paintings through the various species of animals in the area, of the archers and, even, of divinities and specialists in charge of carrying out rituals. Experts say that the Neolithic society used the cave painting as a means of communication with the aim to point out places of meeting and celebration of certain rites.
The first paintings of the Sierra de Godall were discovered in 1975 in a cave in the ravine. Currently we have located up to fourteen shelters decorated by man 8,000 years ago. Just next to the shelters, the Abrics de l’Ermita Interpretation Centre for Rock Art, created by the Museum of Archaeology of Catalonia, allows the visitor to discover the artistic and historical heritage of Ulldecona through graphical, photographic, audiovisual resources and replicas of the paintings.
Man has always needed to express his concerns and thoughts. When writing did not exist, artistic expression was the perfect resource to convey these ideas. The set of Rock Art of the Mediterranean basin on the Iberian peninsula consists of 757 sites with paintings, and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1998. This is the largest set of rock art sites in Europe. In Catalonia there are the hermitage shelters of the Serra de la Pietat (Ulldecona), Roca dels Moros (Montsià) and the Cave of Vilasos or Els Vilars (Os de Balaguer), among others.
The humans who inhabited the coastal and interior mountains of Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia, Castile-La Mancha, Murcia and Andalusia chose shallow caves and shelters in which to paint and engrave symbols and scenes from their daily life. In every way, the decorated walls also raise many questions about their beliefs, organisation and other aspects which are difficult to understand.
The paintings of the Mediterranean basin were made from the late Palaeolithic period up to the bronze or the iron age. Classified as Levantine art, they express ideas that until that point had been non-existent: man showing his relationship to his environment, the links with nature, beliefs and, at the same time, expressing his power and intervention in the environment in which he lives.
The creators of the cave paintings used different techniques and colours, creating various styles that scholars have classified as naturalist, schematic and macro-schematic. These last two were imposed in the final phase, and tend towards an increasingly accentuated stylisation of the expressions and by an increasing prominence of signs and symbols. The most widely used colour is red, in all its varied tones.
The Born Cultural Centre in Barcelona is a benchmark facility for Europe: it is both a historical site, the core of the collective Catalan memory and a modern cultural centre.
As a historical site, the old market of Born (1876) was the first large building using iron architecture in the city, demonstrating its prominent role as a European metropolis during the 19th century.
With regard to the historical memory, in the subsoil of the market an exceptional archaeological site, both for its state of conservation and for its dimensions, is preserved. Contemplating the remains of 42 streets and 60 houses that were part of the Barri de la Ribera (the Ribera neighbourhood) you can explore the history of Barcelona and Catalonia, from the Roman era until the early eighteenth century.
The stones speak to us especially of the outcome of the War of Succession for the city, which resisted the siege by Felip V's troops up to the capitulation on 11th September 1714. As a result, the centre of the Born was destroyed in order to build the military stronghold of the Ciutadella.
After years of excavation work, restoration and exhibits, this location has been converted into a cultural centre. Opened in 2014, it acts as an interpretation centre for the War of the Spanish Succession, and at the same time offers a programme that includes literary, musical, and theatrical activities.
Occupied by man since the beginning of the Middle Palaeolithic Age until the Metal Ages, the Serinyà Prehistoric Cave Park consists of several shelters or caves (the Arbreda, the Mollet and the Reclau Viver).
Studies carried out have shown that this is one of the best sites in Western Europe for discovering the progression of Neanderthal man to modern man. About 200,000 years ago (Middle Paleolithic) it was inhabited by the pre-Neanderthals (Homo heidelbergensis); later (between 90,000 and 39,000 years ago) the Neanderthals lived there and finally, during the Upper Paleolithic, the caves provided a refuge for modern man (Homo sapiens). All of them inhabited this place during the last glacial periods, when the landscape was very different to that of today.
The most important discoveries include a skull found in 1973, which is the oldest remains of modern human in Catalonia (22,300 years old).
The first archaeological excavations were started by Pere Alsius i Torrent in the second half of the 19th century. In the 20th century, they were continued by Dr. Josep Maria Corominas (1943) and today, work is being carried out by researchers from the University of Girona and the Archaeological Museum of Catalonia-Girona. In 1996, the County Council of Pla de l'Estany started on the construction of the current Park.
Under the waters of El Port de la Selva bay, resting for more than 2,000 years, the Cap del Vol, a Roman vessel that sank with its cargo of wine and which has been baptised with the name of the beach where the wreck remains. From the outset, the researchers realised that the Cap del Vol was not a conventional Roman ship: the characteristics of its naval architecture were quite different from other wrecks (sunken ships) from the same period.
In particular, the draught of the vessel (the distance between the waterline and the keel) is lower than that of other ships and its keel is not pronounced. Features that made it ideal for sailing in shallow waters or in wetland areas and the scholars believe that in reality it was a ship built by the indigenous population of the area.
El Cap del Vol was carrying a load of wine stored in amphora and it is believed that it made the trip between the Catalan coast and that of Narbonne. Among the most remarkable finds there is a coin from Arse (Sagunt) and the cork in one of the amphora.
