Archaeological Ensemble of Mérida
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How it came to be
In 25 BC, after completing the conquest of northern Hispania, Augustus founded the colony of Augusta Emerita to settle veterans of the Cantabrian Wars. The city was laid out as a model of Rome and became the capital of Lusitania, the westernmost province of the empire.
The theatre, built in 16-15 BC and dedicated by Agrippa, seated about 6,000. The amphitheatre, dedicated in 8 BC, held about 15,000, and the circus, some 400 metres long, about 30,000. The 792-metre bridge over the Guadiana is one of the largest surviving bridges of antiquity and still carries traffic.
After Rome, the city was a royal seat of the Suebi and the Visigoths, and under Arab rule it was one of three border capitals of al-Andalus, with Toledo and Zaragoza. Its buried monuments were excavated in the 20th century, and the theatre has hosted a classical festival since the 1930s. The ensemble was inscribed in 1993.
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