National Museum of Roman Art

The National Museum of Roman Art in Mérida, Spain, exhibits extensive Roman artifacts from the ancient city of Augusta Emerita, including sculptures, mosaics, and daily life objects.

Planning your visit

Mérida was Augusta Emerita, founded in 25 BC for veteran soldiers and capital of the Roman province of Lusitania, and it retains more standing Roman architecture than anywhere else in Spain — a theatre still used for performances, an amphitheatre, a circus, temples, two aqueducts and a bridge over the Guadiana that carried traffic into the twentieth century.

Rafael Moneo's museum, opened in 1986, is regarded as one of the finest museum buildings of the late twentieth century: parallel brick walls pierced by arches, using Roman construction proportions and materials, with the excavated remains of a Roman street and burials preserved in the crypt below.

The collection holds sculpture, mosaics, coins, glass and everyday objects from the city, displayed against brickwork that echoes what they came from.

The mosaics are the visual highlight, hung vertically on the tall walls.

The Roman sites and museum together fill a full day. Allow two hours here. Bookable options include mythological tours. Current availability is listed below.