Tarraco's Roman monuments on the World Heritage list, in and around Tarragona

Map of 10 locations in Tarragona, Spain

UNESCO inscribed the Archaeological Ensemble of Tarraco at its 24th session in 2000, under criteria (ii) and (iii), as a single property of 32.65 hectares split across fourteen components and four municipalities. The capital of Hispania Citerior left behind not just the showpieces inside the walls but the quarry its stone came from, the aqueduct that watered it, the tomb and the arch that marked its roads, and the cemetery that took over the suburbs in the 3rd century. Each component carries its own reference number in the listing, and several are managed by different bodies, so what reads as one monument on paper is in practice a scatter of separate sites between Roda de Berà and Constantí.

Places in this collection

  • Necròpolis paleocristiana de Tarragona — This ground outside the walls first held suburban villas in the late Republican period, and was turned over to burial in the 3rd century, g…
  • Fòrum de la Colònia — The civic centre of the Roman colony, put up around 30 BC, of which only part of the basilica is still standing. A walkway crosses a surviv…
  • Fòrum Provincial — The administrative centre of Hispania Citerior occupied the upper terraces of the city, with the Pretori tower housing the stairs that carr…
  • Amfiteatre de Tarragona — Built in the second half of the 1st century AD with room for around 14,000 spectators, and remodelled in 221. On 21 January 259 the bishop…
  • Arc de Berà — A single-span arch with restrained decoration, read as a territorial marker on the Via Augusta at the limit of Tàrraco's territory. The ins…
  • Pedrera romana del Mèdol — The limestone for much of Tàrraco came out of this cut, with roughly 50,000 cubic metres estimated as removed. A single pillar of rock, the…
  • Aqüeducte de les Ferreres — One of the four outlying monuments the UNESCO criteria of 2000 cite as contributing to the understanding of Tarraco, alongside the Centcell…
  • Vil·la romana de Centcelles — The domed building at the centre of this estate was raised as a funerary monument, and its mosaic decoration runs across the whole surface…
  • Vil·la romana dels Munts — A seaside estate built in the Augustan period, rebuilt in the 2nd century, burned and wrecked in the middle of the 3rd, and still occupied…
  • Torre dels Escipions — A funerary tower on the old road east out of Tarragona, raised by a family wealthy enough to advertise itself on a main approach to Tàrraco…

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