The story of a botanical concert hall, a Roman obelisk & photographic negatives

What a strange and fantastical place! Unassuming yet grand. A polar opposite of its extremely mundane surroundings. Looking at the Roman fortifications of Tarragona, I asked myself many times: where did they get the construction materials from to build this gigantic monument? And the answer is: from local quarries, up to 24 of them, the most important and spectacular of which was the quarry of El Mèdol, six kilometres east of the city, near La Mora-Tamarit.

There you´ll find a man-made crater, a treasure trove of limestone, more than 200 metres long, 50 metres wide and 15 to 20 metres deep. It is thought that more than 50,000 cubic metres of stone were extracted from this site in Roman times in order to build Tarraco´s walls and probably also many of its major public buildings as well as some of the city´s private residences. It also provided the raw material handled by artisans and artists to decorate those buildings and to create epigraphic monuments (like pedestals and altars) and a range of artefacts. This quarry - the birthmother of Tarraco - was possibly still in use in the Middle Ages when a new generation of quarrymen, builders and engineers set out to construct the cathedral of Tarragona. The tools that were used to cut and extract stone from the rocks were wooden wedges (which were driven into holes cut into the rock and were moistened so that the expanding wood would crack the rock) and iron implements such as saws, chisels and hammers. The standard measure of a block of stone was 1,65 - 0,83 - 0,75m. The stones were then transported by sea or on carts along the nearby Via Augusta to Tarraco where they received the finishing touches.

At the heart this quarry stands a spectacular stone spire, known as the "aguja de El Mèdol" ("the needle of El Mèdol"), which was left unexcavated as the surrounding stones were being extracted. In short, the point of departure for this quarry. The height of this bimillenial Roman obelisk gives you an idea of the depth dug down from the original ground level. What the Romans of Tarraco excavated here was a type of limestone of a golden-sandy colour - just check out the colour scheme of Tarragona´s Roman walls. Marks left in the rocks by Roman quarrymen are still visible and are testament to the immense work that was carried out on this site. The almost vertical rock walls with their indentures and incensions are like negative-space casts of the blocks of stone that were carried off to build Tarraco, something that reminds me of the hypermodern art of Rachel Whiteread. An old quarry transformed by time and nature into austere, silent, fantastical and nameless monumental art. Earthy and ethereal at the same time. The erosion eating away at the rock walls adds to the artistic quality of this place.

Not only is this an enclave of 2200-year-old history-cum-archeology and a monumental man-made crater with an artistic feel, its micro-climate has also created a botanical garden of sorts with pine trees and cypresses as the protagonists. Cypresses were planted here in the early 20th century by garden enthusiasts. And, last but not least, I haven´t mentioned El Mèdol´s superb acoustic qualities. In the 1930s, it was used as an open-air concert hall. Just imagine! At the time it was known as Catalonia´s "auditorium natural". The concert held on the 29th of June 1932 was the climax of its musical history: 500 people attended, among whom Francesc Macià, then president of the Catalan government.

The quarry of El Mèdol is located next to a service station along the A7 motorway and is owned by the motorway licensee, Abertis. How come this World Heritage site isn´t public property, I wonder? Still, I have to admit that they´re not doing a bad job maintaining the site. So, is it worth visiting this place? Let me just say that this Roman stone workshop is not just one of Tarragona not-to-miss places - visiting the quarry of El Mèdol is essential stuff and for Tarraco aficionados a close-to-sacred experience.