About Barcelona

Roman Barcelona – Barcino

Plaça del Rei - Gothic Quarter - Ciutat Vella

The foundation of the city of Barcelona is not clear as there are two different myths; one credited to Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca around 230 BC, and the other to one of the nine ships of the fleet of Hercules when he joined Jason and the Argonauts in the search of the Golden Fleece, travelling across the Mediterranean, 400 years before the building of Rome.
It is known that between years 15 and 13 BC, in the era of Emperor Augustus, that the Romans founded the Mons Taber, a temple 12 meters high on a little hill near what is now  the city hall square (Plaça de Sant Jaume) right in the middle of current Gothic Quarter of Barcelona.
Even though there are few Roman ruins left as at the time Barcino was considerably less important than other major centers like Tarraco (Tarragona) or Caesaraugusta (Zaragoza), it is still possible to visit the typically Roman grid-planning of the City of Barcelano. Most of the ancient city is now buried deep underneath today’s city center, but excavation work are constantly going on to uncover more of Roman Barcino and the most important part can be viewed in  one of the facilities that form part of City History Museum (Museu d’Història de la Ciutat de Barcelona)  in what is called the Plaça del Rei Monumental Complex (Conjunt Monumental de la Plaça del Rei) , located in Plaça del Rei, close to the Barcelona Cathedral and the Plaça  St. Jaume.
The Complex is an extensive area of 4,000 m2, mostly under the Plaça del Rei, that includes in the underground the urban structure of Barcino (Roman Barcelona) and over ground important medieval buildings like the Royal Palace (Palacio Reial Mayor) with the ceremonial hall (Salo del Tinell) of the Counts of Barcelona and after of the Kings of the Catalan/Aragon Crown, the Chapel of St. Agatha, classic Catalan Gothic build over the Roman walls of the city, and the Padellas Palace, Gothic palace from the XV century.
The City History Museum (Museu d’Història de la Ciutat de Barcelona) is spread out in the city with a large number of facilities to explain the history of Barcelona and involve: The complex of the Plaça del Rei, the Museum at the Pedralbes Monastery, the Park Güell Centre, the Verdaguer Museum-House, the Santa Caterina Archeological Center, the Call Centre and the Bomb shelter 307. Together all these facilities explain more than 2000 years of the history of Barcelona.