The Greg Jones Family Blog: Merida--Close-down week one

Merida is unique among all the cities we have visited in Spain because it has no "casco historico" (old city center) separate from the rest of the town--and its main historic features are Roman ruins from the time of Christ instead of buildings from the 13th and 14th centuries! Merida was founded by the Emperor Augustus Ceasar in 25 B.C., and was the capital of the whole Spain-Portugal area in late Roman times. It was a site of battles in the Punic Wars in the late 1st and early 2nd centuries A.D. When the Roman Empire fell 435 A.D. it became the capital of the Visigoth kingdom, and then was taken over by the Moors, or Muslims, in the 700's. It was conquered by a Christian king in 1230 A.D. during the Reconquista, a series of religious wars to take Europe back from the Arabs. During all this time its Roman buildings were either adapted or torn down and the materials used to build other structures. The ground level raised as each succeeding culture built on top of the previous one, until much of the Roman city was totally buried. The Napoleonic wars in the late 1700's further ruined many of the remaining Roman buildings. Now the city is focused on uncovering and restoring its most important Roman structures.

We saw this aqueduct from the train as we neared Merida. It was our first hint of what we were to experience.

It was raining, and late in the day when we arrived, so we made this wonderful museum our first stop. It contains huge mosaics, tall Roman columns, and many statues as well as Roman household items.

Ruins are scattered throughout the city, but instead of covering them over as earlier peoples have done the current government is attempting to build around them, preserving whatever is left from earlier civilizations. These office buildings were constructed on stilts over some ruins, with a walkway alongside, and interpretive signs. It is hard to get a building permit in Merida, because as one person we talked to said, "Every time you put in your shovel you come up with some protected ruin."

Greg is watching a chariot race here in the Circus Maximus, and his man is winning!

A grassy hillside near the Colosseum and Amphitheater

According to a archaeologist-draftsman we talked to who was working in the area of the amphitheater, the amphitheater-Colosseum complex was just a grass-covered hilly area with large unusual stones protruding from it before it was uncovered.

They are still uncovering the Colosseum, and restoring some of the benches. The sunken area in the center was once covered with wood, and used to house the wild animals which fought here.

To us, this theater is the gem of Merida.

The theater is adjoining the Colosseum. Our archaeologist friend told us that when the theater collapsed, it fell forward, which made it relatively easy to see how it should be reconstructed.

The Roman bridge in Merida is the longest in the world still in use--nearly a half mile long.

Once you know what to look for you can see Roman remains scattered throughout the city, a wall here, a column there, either standing alone or incorporated into another building.