Wednesday 5th March 2025 – Merida, Spain

The tourist information map showed 26 historic sites, almost all of them from the Roman colony of Augusta Emerita, and we had a lot to see today.
We started with the Roman circus, just a short walk from the van. This horse racing circuit with a ground plan of 440 metres by 115 metres and its stands could hold 30,000 spectators. The remains of lower part of some of the stands are still in place, together with the central ‘spina’ that ran down the centre of circuit. The race consisted of seven circuits and the progress was indicated by a mechanism housed on the spina. The starting blocks for the race are also preserved. A museum explained more about the circus and the races and it also had a viewing gallery on an upper floor that provided a good view over the site.
Just across the road from the circus is another popular venue for the Romans – a public bath house. This was conveniently located next to one of the four aqueducts that brought water into the city. The remains of the aqueduct were impressive.
We moved on to the crypt of Santa Eulalia church where there were many Roman and Visigoth graves. Then it was the Roman Aqueduct ‘Los Milagros’ that is one of the best preserved examples in Spain.
Walking via a Roman bridge over the Rio Albarregas and a Roman monumental fountain, we arrived at the Archaeological Area of Moreria. Everywhere in the city that they had cleared sites for redevelopment, there was evidence of archaeological excavations revealing Roman ruins. The same had applied to the Moreria site but the finds were so significant that they had left them exposed and built the flats above, raised on pillars so that the ruins were preserved. It was fun to see the intersection of two preserved Roman roads in addition to extensive remains of Roman houses (including mosaics) and houses that had been converted for industrial use in the post-Roman era. A very interesting site and they are still carrying out excavations.
We moved on to the Visigoth Museum but that turned out to be rather disappointing – old fashioned and not very interesting. We spotted later that they are intending to build a new museum and I am sure that there will be more exhibits and much better presented. However, I suspect that it will be some years before the museum is ready.
The Casa del Mitreo y Columbarios is another magnificent Roman villa with mosaics and wall plaster still visible.
We saw many other sites but the main one that we had left to do was the National Museum of Roman Art. We didn’t know quite what to expect but it turned out to be fantastic. It is a relatively recent, purpose-built building, the outside clad with reproduction Roman bricks. Entering the museum was a real ‘Wow’ moment. More reproduction Roman brick pillars rose up to arches at the ceiling level with three exhibition floors below. Huge finely-carved statues, many from the theatre stage façade, were exhibited on the ground floor. There were many stunning exhibits but the ones that I loved were the mosaics. Huge, intricate mosaics, both geometric and figurative are mounted on the walls, sometimes covering all three floors and visible from each of them. There was so much to see that we ran out of time when the museum closed at 18:30. I decided that I would have to return the next day to finish – not a problem as entrance was free.
Photos: The starting blocks of the circus; View from the far end of the circus showing the central spina; The ‘Los Milagros’ aqueduct; A villa at the Moreria site; The Roman crossroads at Moreria; One of the mosaics at the Casa del Mitreo; The ‘Wow’ initial view of the Museum of Roman Art; A second century AD statue in the museum.