Tarragona Amphitheatre

Tarragona's amphitheatre is one of the few Roman arenas that sit right beside the sea. It was built in the second century AD at the foot of the city walls of Tarraco, capital of the province of Hispania Tarraconensis, on ground that had been a burial area, and it looks straight out over the Mediterranean. The builders used the slope, cutting part of the seating out of the rock and raising the rest on vaults of concrete and dressed stone. The ellipse measures about 130 by 102 m and could hold some fourteen thousand spectators, divided by class into three tiers.

Gladiator fights, wild-animal hunts and executions were staged here. Under the arena, pits held lifts worked by pulleys, counterweights and winches to raise cages, fighters and scenery to the sand; a small chapel down in the pits was dedicated to Nemesis, protector of gladiators, and its fresco is now in the National Archaeological Museum of Tarragona. In the early third century, under Emperor Elagabalus, the arena was refurbished, and a monumental inscription crowned the podium; many fragments of it survive.

The amphitheatre's most solemn moment came on 21 January 259, when Bishop Fructuosus and his deacons Augurius and Eulogius were burned alive here during Valerian's persecution. In the sixth century, stones from the seating were reused to build a three-aisled Visigothic basilica in the arena to mark the place of their martyrdom, surrounded by tombs. In the twelfth century a Romanesque church, Santa María del Milagro, rose on its foundations; it stood until 1915. So the site holds three layers at once — arena, basilica and church — and all three can be read in the ruins today. It is part of the Archaeological Ensemble of Tárraco, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000.

Getting there

The amphitheatre is on the seafront below Tarragona's old town, about 1.2 km from the city centre. Reus Airport (REU) is about 8 km away.