The Iberian Acropolis

As the capital and biggest city of Hispania Citerior and as a model city for subsequent capital cities established by Rome, Tarraco was endowed with major public buildings. The centre of government power was the Provincial Forum which began to be constructed ca. 70 AD, under the Flavian dynasty, on an artificial terrace between the imperial temple (where one can now find the cathedral) and the circus (which was constructed some years later on the lowest terrace in the upper part of the city). The seat of the Concilium Provinciae Hispaniae Citerioris, to use its proper Latin name, was a huge rectangular square lined, on three sides, by a portico raised on a podium, a series of galleries – some underground – and two towers on its southern corners that allowed people access to the galleries as well as connecting with the circus. The entire complex of the Parte Alta – Provincial Forum, imperial temple and circus – is without parallel in terms of size in the entire Roman world: 7.5 hectares or the size of seven football pitches! This was the acropolis, the centre of what was then the biggest (and an extremely important) province of the Roman Empire. Architectural and iconographic models were imported directly from Rome and even the emperor´s own craftsmen are said to have been put to work on beautifying the plaza.
The tower on the south-eastern corner, the so-called Praetorian Tower on Plaza del Rei, is the most formidable remnant of the Provincial Forum (see pictures). In the Middle Ages the Praetorium was rebuilt, with a second floor being added, to serve as a castle and residence of royalty. By then much of the rest of the Provincial Forum buildings had already been destroyed or dismantled and what was left was integrated into the houses and residences that have since the Middle Ages been constructed on this site. At the top of the Praetorian Tower, giving you the best panoramic view of the city and the Mediterranean, you can see the end result.
Probably the easiest way the understand the layout of Tarraco and at the same time visit another well-preserved Forum gallery is to study the incredibly detailed scale model of 2nd-century Tarraco in the ´Volta del Pallol´ on the Plaza del Pallol. The Volta del Pallol is part of a building called Ca l´Agapito (as is the case so often, the ground floor is Roman but the higher floors are medieval). The other most visible remains of the Provincial Forum, its north-eastern corner, are on the Plaza del Forum. The main street of the old part of the city, the Calle Major – medieval in origin – was superimposed upon the grand, central processional road that ran across the Provincial Forum up to the site of the imperial cult. A road which began all the way down at the port, ran across the lower (residential) part of Tarraco to connect via the circus with the Provincial Forum. The Roman city of Tarraco was a demonstration of the Roman wonders of city planning, architecture, engineering, craftsmanship and politics.