Secrets of the circus

With this post I want to open a new series of posts dedicated to secret Tarraco, the remnants of Tarragona´s great monuments that are hidden from the naked eye in homes, cafés and restaurants or that are simply lost in the city´s streets and walls. The tourist guides all point you towards the great musealized sites where you can see what´s left of the amphiteatre, the circus, the theatre and the provincial and local forums. But remnants of two of the great monuments located in the old part of the city - the circus and the provincial forum - can be found in unlikely places as well.

The circus fits this picture very well. The eastern sector of the circus is now part of the city history museum and includes part of the circus facade, vaults and remains of the podium, the tiered seating, the stairs and the arena. Another series of circus vaults in the open air belong to the northern perimeter of the circus, along Trinquet Vell street and in Plaça dels Sedassos. But absolutely fascinating are a set of vaults and portions of the circus wall of the southern perimeter that are hidden away in cafés, restaurants, a hotel and even a bank on Plaça de la Font, the central square and meeting place of Tarragona´s parte alta.

Banking in style! The office of La Caixa on the Plaça de la Font (no.47) is without doubt the most glorious example of the hidden delights of the circus. Tastefully preserved inside this office is one of the few surviving arches of the circus facade. Unfortunately, only business clients of the bank can enter and even they are not allowed to take pictures. A pity. I was lucky to enter. At the very least you can peer through the windows of the bank, so you can see the architectural spectacle of a Roman hippodrome meeting 21st-century finance. A sight, I am sure, you´ve never seen before.

Moving to the right, towards the city hall, you´ll see several other places where Roman history meets modernity. Houses were built here on this location, from the Middle Ages onwards, within the circus vaults. Modern-day houses have replaced medieval dwellings but the Roman foundations are still to be seen here and there. From banking in style to dining and drinking in style: Cappuccino (a café on Font, 43) has remnants of a vault and of tiered seating, while the restaurant-hotel Forum (Font, 37) also has a set of two millenia old circus arches. In Candil (Font, 13) you can also have a coffee or a beer inside a beautifully intact circus vault. For a snapshot of each these three sites see the pictures below. When in Tarragona, these charioteering caverns are definitely where you should go to have a drink!