Clerks, Dominicans, wheat and water

The archeological zone around the Plaza Pallol has a number of things to offer, the most interesting being Ca l´Agapito, once a Dominican convent and school. One of Ca l´Agapito´s later incarnations was as a government storehouse for wheat, hence the name of the square (this is the meaning of the word ´Pallol´ in Catalan). But below this building´s tranquil medieval exterior lies - as so often in Tarragona - an even older, Roman past. The part of the building that is open to the public is referred to as the ´Volta del Pallol´ and is a wonderfully preserved part of a gallery of the Provincial Forum, the centre of government power and the central piece in Tarraco´s acropolis. Centre stage in this gallery is a huge scale model of 2nd-century Tarraco, which is your best way of making sense of the layout of Tarraco...and of making sense of the location of the ´Volta del Pallol´, just next to the now disappeared south-western tower of the Provincial Forum (remnants of the Forum tower, however, can be found in the building across the Plaza Pallol, the so-called Antiga Audiencia, nowadays a cultural centre), the tower on the south-eastern corner of this immense rectangular square being the Praetorian Tower on Plaza del Rei.

Waiting to be opened to the public are two other archeological jewels. First, the interior patio of this former Dominican convent which contains significant and precious stretches of the perimeter wall that closed off the Provincial Forum. And secondly, a recent archeological discovery. Archeologists have dug up below the ´Volta del Pallol´ and the Plaza del Pallol what seems to be part of the network of underground vaults that surrounded the Provincial Forum and served to support the portico, as well as allowing clerks, scribes and others working in the Forum direct and quick access from the exterior onto the Forum. The vault uncovered - which after the Romans was used as a cistern - is 14 metres long.

Catalonia´s greatest subterranean lake

Under the city of Tarragona lies a huge (3-kilometre long) cave with enormous halls, labyrinths, clear water and a gallery excavated by man. An extensive and complex subterranean cave and cavern system carved by groundwater that make it the greatest underwater lake in Catalonia. The construction of an underground parking in C/Gasòmetre, 32 in 1996 brought this speleological miracle to light. In pre-Roman times and in republican-era Tarraco, the cave was one of the city´s principal water resources. The discovery of the subterranean lake - some 13 metres below the surface of the old Roman city and with its epicentre below the Colonial Forum - has helped to make more sense of the remnants of Roman-era and medieval public fountains and wells that had been uncovered (and continue to be uncovered) by archeologists in the lower half of the city. Explorations of the cave are still ongoing to find out its full extent and whether there is a connection with galleries that have been discovered and mapped in the vicinity of the imperial public bath complex (along C/Sant Miquel) and of the Chartreuse factory - an old liqueur-producing factory set up in the early 1900s by French Carthusian monks. SIET, the Society of Speleological Investigations of Tarragona offers tours of the cave with officially certified speleologists. Below is a video of one of their expeditions.

Death, blasphemy & muzac

Once upon a time - in the heady days of Rome´s first pagan-turned-Christian emperor, Constantine the Great - the cityscape of the great Roman capitals started to be transformed. Following Rome´s lead, Christian churches, basilicas and residences for bishops were being built in all the major cities. And they were not being built in the city centres, home still to temples and government offices, but on the city´s outskirts, in the very centre of the burial grounds that dotted the roads that exited all Roman cities and that used to be pagan burial sites but were now increasingly used as the last resting place for the growing population of Christians. At the epicentre of these cemetery complexes of tombs, crypts, sarcophagi and large and small funerary monuments you would often find a very special and very sacred tomb, one that held the body of a Christian martyr.

In the 4th century, in Tarraco´s western suburb, some 700 metres west of the city walls, probably Spain´s most impressive and splendorous Christian complex was constructed on top of and surrounding the sanctuary of Fructuosis, the man who as bishop of the city was martyred in 259 in the amphitheatre. Two of the oldest Christian basilica (Paleochristian or Early-Christian is the word historians and archeologists use to refer to these buildings) on the Iberian peninsula were built on this holy site, close to the river Francolí. And the number of mausoleums and crypts surrounding the basilica continued to expand. A grand total of 2050 tombs (!) would be unearthed by archeologists in the early 20th century. In the 4th and 5th century, the sanctuary, the basilicas and the necropolis became a prime centre of attraction, a prestigious place of worship and commemoration and a vibrant meeting place for pilgrims and curious visitors alike.

Because Saint Fructuosis was not just anybody - he was the first Christian martyr of the Iberian peninsula, the first local "hero of the faith". The cult surrounding Saint Fructuosis was flourishing and, with it, Tarraco´s western suburb. By the 6th century it was all over: under the Visigoths, the new rulers of the land, the Church moved uptown. Its headquarters and its principal place of worship moved to the acropolis, the area that for centuries had been home to the (pagan) imperial temple at the zenith of the cityscape.

When, between 1925 and 1933, the basilica-cum-necropolis of Saint Fructuosis was uncovered to make way for Tarragona´s state tobacco factory - the Tabacalera-, it was immediately hailed as one of the most significant Paleochristian sites in the entire Western world. Part of the site was preserved as an open-air museum, known as the Museo y Necrópolis Paleocristianos (Av. Ramon i Cajal, 84), managed now by the National Archeological Museum of Tarragona (MNAT). It´s a place that I´ve mentioned in another post. The Tabacalera is currently being converted and in the future is likely to house the large Archeological Museum that is now in the old city centre (on Plaça del Rei). When this happens, everyone agrees that a new archeological expedition on the grounds of the Tabacalera will have to be mounted, which will most probably lead to new finds, things left uncovered and undiscovered in the 1920s and 1930s.

Over a decade ago, in 1994, the foundations of the other funerary basilica of this complex that was connected by a road to Saint Fructuosis´ basilica - along with the remnants of six other buildings of the same era (a suburban villa, storehouses, etc) - was discovered outside the Tabacalera grounds, on the other side of the road. This time it was to make way for a shopping mall (Parc Central). The singular, eclectic and small-sized Early-Christian basilica was the most important of the new finds. The controversy that followed, about how to preserve these late-Roman ruins, eventually led to a travesty of heritage preservation and a travesty of history. I went to see the site a few weeks ago. It was bad enough news that the remnants of the basilica and the other buildings were removed from their original location, lowered 2,5 metres and grouped together, so that they could be conveniently placed in one compact section of the underground parking lot of the new shopping mall; it was equally bad news that the planned underground tunnel which was going to integrate this new site with the necropolis museum across the road, didn´t go ahead.

Since its opening to the public, things have only gone further downhill: closed for most of the time, relegated to semi-darkness, claustrophobic, pieces of the exhibition missing, little to no information about the historical background, and loud elevator music beaming in from the parking lot which blasphemizes everything these ruins stand for. No wonder hardly anyone comes to visit this place. A major disappointment and a missed opportunity. An orphaned sibling of Tarragona´s grand monuments...

If only... If only they had left the ruins in their original location (which specialists say was certainly an option), had dug that underground tunnel to connect the site to the necropolis museum, had turned the place into something grandiose, with bright ceilings and light flooding in, had closed the site off hermetically and acoustically from the shopping mall, had provided appropriate accompanying text or audio; basically, if only they had let museologists do their work, then going to visit the ruins of this Paleochristian temple might have been a genuine educational experience. And perhaps even a metaphysical experience: a small haven of reflective contemplation not just about the past but also the present and the future. And also a space of semi-religious communion with old things as much as with the people you might be visiting this place with because in the end, to quote Adam Gopnik, "museums, as much as they are places to go and see things, are also places to go and talk about things, and, through talking, to understand something about the way life takes place in time". Maybe it is not too late. I hope so.

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.

Tarragona´s Heritage Watchdog speaks out

Under the title ´The defence of our heritage is no obstacle to development´, a local weekly newspaper of Tarragona (noticiestgn) published an interview on 11 November with the chairman of the Royal Archeological Society of Tarragona, a venerable institution which for decades now has defended the city´s Roman legacy and has often found itself in the position of having to police and keep a watchful eye out for archeological predators of different kinds. I am translating the interview with its chairman, Rafael Gabriel, here in full.

"Q. One of the aims of your organization is the preservation of the city´s heritage. What does that entail?

A. Keeping an eye on our heritage, promoting research and disseminating research. Our organization was established in 1844 at a critical moment for our heritage. This was the age of the ecclesiastical confiscations of Mendizabal, the construction of the port and the uninterrupted plunder of the port´s quarry. People from across Europe came here to carry off part of our heritage. It was then that a group of local citizens decided to establish an organization whose aim was to defend our history and to set up an archeological museum.

Q. Our forefathers were clearly concerned about the city´s heritage. Do we nowadays still have that same spirit of fighting for our culture?

A. I think so. A sign is the membership of our organization: there are more than 550 members, many of whom young people. Some have joined us out of love for the city, others because they concerned about heritage issues. The big problem is that people lose hope, think that nothing can be done. And it doesn´t have to be that way: we can always fight to try to improve things.

Q. Your organization is often critical of the role of public institutions. Just by looking at your website (www.arqueologica.org), one can find a whole catalogue of complaints...and not just one or two.

A. Correct. Someone has to play this role and that´s why we are here. Irrespective of our politicians´ political orientation, our organization will denounce whatever we think causes harm to our heritage. Of course, being critical in the good sense of the word: nobody has a monopoly on the truth. So, what we provide is constructive criticism.

A CITY WITHOUT AN ARCHEOLOGICAL PROTECTION PLAN

Q. Does the fact that there is a long list of criticisms mean that things are not being done well?

A. Absolutely. Since 1993, when the Catalan government introduced the Heritage Law (Llei de Patrimoni), cities which are recognized as heritage sites are under an obligation to develop an archeological protection plan, something which the city council has never been willing to do. Such a plan is absolutely essential in order to lay down the basic guidelines and for everyone to know what rules to follow. An entirely unlogical situation is that builders are responsible for the cost of the archeological excavations on building sites. It is the builder himself who pays the archeologists.

An archeological protection plan would lay down the overall guidelines and uniformize the criteria. The administrative work would be optimalized and would even be more cost-effective, something very important at a time when resources are squeezed and are having to be allocated to other essential services like health, education... The city council tries to sell us other products such as a Development Plan for the Parte Alta...but don´t be fooled: they are no archeological protection plan.

Q. Why do you think heritage issues are always so controversial?

A. There is a dichotomy between the future and the preservation of the past and there is no reason why that should be so. They are not incompatible. We don´t seem to be able to appreciate the true greatness of the historical legacy of our city.

Q. Has there been any councillor with responsibility in this field who had this spirit of preservation and promotion of the city´s historical legacy?

A. No, never. All of them have clung to that false dichotomy, believing that heritage is an obstacle to development. One of them had even been a member of the Archeological Society. The aim should be to convert the historical remnants that we have into a monumental complex.

SEVEN ARCADES OF THE FACADE OF THE ROMAN CIRCUS DISMANTLED TO MAKE WAY FOR A CINEMA

Q. What kind of outrageous things have happened to the city´s heritage?

A. I´ll give you a few examples. I could talk about a well-known cinema which up to some years ago existed on the Rambla Vella. To build the cinema, seven arcades of the facade of the circus were dismantled. The Royal Archeological Society denounced this but we were told that there was no way to go against the decision because the cinema was very important to the growth of the city. Priority was given to a cinema - which has only lasted 20 years (and has since been turned into an English pub)- over a 2000-year old legacy.

Another case is Eroski (the location of an Early Christian basilica): the site could have been left intact if the mall had been constructed just five metres further. Instead the finds were removed and replanted somewhere else. What was most important, the connection with the Early Christian Necropolis, was lost.

And let´s not forget the famous monumental fountain found in Carrer Eivissa, a unique piece in the Iberian peninsula. It wasn´t destroyed but now it lies underneath a house. What are we playing at?

Q. At the present time, which renovation works are you most concerned about?

A. The aqueduct (Pont del Diable); the restoration of the Roman walls and its patrol path. We also want the underground tunnel of the circus - which attracts most of our visitors - back in condition: it has been closed recently due to a problem with the sewers and now it´s closed again due to leakages.

WE WANT THE TABACALERA TO BECOME A LITTLE LOUVRE

Q. We have talked about current renovation works. Now, are there any other deficiencies heritagewise?

A. Tarragona ought to have a City History Museum. The current archeological museum should move to the Tabacalera building. Take into consideration that 30% of the Tabacalera complex is built on top of the Necropolis. We are in favour of the idea of building a small Louvre on that site rather than just using the Tabacalera for exhibitions. All of the archeological finds which are now kept in different storage rooms - because of lack of exhibition space - should be on display there. One could even reconstruct the Roman theatre at the Tabacalera. The Praetorian Tower can then be used to house the City History Museum, with displays of the different epochs of our city. We have done something great with our folkloric history: every child knows about our festivals and folk traditions, but if you ask them about the War of Independence against Napoleon, the significance of the wine industry or the medieval period, there is little they know. We have to explain to them the period of the Enlightenment, the construction of the port and what it meant for the city. We cannot loose our identity."

Roman spa heritage: Bath vs Tarragona

The Roman baths of the English town of Bath were largely destroyed in the early Middle Ages and were then rebuilt over various centuries. Yet, that doesn´t prevent the town of Bath to promote and celebrate its thermal spa complex as ´Roman Baths´. The reason being that the building still has Roman foundations, as well as remains of the Roman heating and drainage systems and remains of a temple courtyard; plus, it houses surviving stones from the decorated pediments of the temple, tombstones, Roman coins and other Roman artifacts. Bath´s Roman thermae alone attract more than one million visitors a year (!). Unbelievable to Spanish ears. The city of Tarragona as a whole receives only about one-fifth of this figure. One of the reasons for this huge difference between the UK and Spain is the amount of public money and sponsorship money that has been put and that continues to be put into Roman heritage.

It is unlikely that Tarraco´s public bath complex will ever attract those kinds of figures (partly because Bath´s thermae are also a great example of 19th-century architectural splendour, whereas those of Tarraco only consist of Roman remnants), but there is so much that could be done to redress its current pitiful state. And, trust me, it ís a pitiful sight. For starters, where are these Roman baths of Tarraco? You will look in vain in the city´s tourist brochures and probably only a handful of people will be able to tell you where to find them, let alone that they exist. The fact that since its discovery and partial excavation in 1994, the site, along the Carrer Sant Miquel and adjoining the Roman theatre, has been covered up again with a sand layer to protect the ruins against the elements, doesn´t help of course. There is still an amazing distance that needs to be travelled before Tarraco´s thermae will start to attract tourists: first, they need to continue with the excavation (which first of all means finalizing the expropriation process - part of the site still lies below a private property), then the proper conservation of the site needs to begin and, finally, the archeological complex needs to be converted into a heritage site cum museum. All of which means lots of public (and private) money and lots of patience.

And "why?" are people going to ask. Simple: this is a great site and a great potential tourist draw for the city. According to specialists from the Institut Català d´Arqueologia Clàssica (ICAC), this is one of the two surviving imperial thermae of the entire Iberian peninsula (dating back to the 3rd century AD) which, together with the nearby Roman theatre and surrounding public gardens, formed a first-class monumental complex on the eastern edges of Tarraco´s port district, just outside the city walls, and when converted into an archeological zone (either in the open air or not) open to the public, will have enormous tourist potential.

The imperial public bathhouse uncovered on this site was, between the 3rd and 5th century - a time when the nearby theatre was no longer in use -, the principal recreational area in the port district. The size of half a football pitch (about 3,000 m2) -only a quarter of which has been excavated -, these majestic thermae not only contained bathing facilities of different sorts but also functioned as a gymnasium, a palace of entertainment and a meeting place, all under one roof. And in the public halls bathgoers discussed pressing political issues of the day. A public facility and a grand recreational complex open to all classes: a basilica thermarum is the technical term; in other words, a ´spa basilica´. From the 5th century onwards, in Visigothic Tarragona, bathhouses were privatized - there is evidence in Tarragona of a growing number of small, private thermae from the post-Roman era. Now, fifteen centuries later, let´s make this site a public space again!

O tempora, o mores! Or, time for an encore!

Symbol, together with the amphiteatre and circus, of a true capital of an imperial Roman province, the theatre of Tarraco has not fared well in recent times. The remains of the theatre - a semi-circular space built in the 1st century AD, in the age of Augustus, just outside the defensive walls on the southern slope of the city, between the Colonial Forum and the port - have been the victim of unmanaged and utterly careless urban development over the late 19th and 20th centuries, just as much as a significant part of the ruins of the residential, lower half of Roman Tarraco was either destroyed or considerably vandalized over that time period. The theatre of Tarragona is the only of its kind in Catalonia. Till the 3rd century AD it used to be the site of lavish dance and theatrical performances, including drama, farce and pantomime.

The rows of seats were partly cut out of the rock on this 20-metres deep slope. Some of these can still clearly be seen, as can part of the stage. But nothing is left of the spectacular, elaborate three-floor structure that once stood behind the stage (barring a number of exceptional sculptures, corinthian capitals, ceramics and other small pieces now safely stored in the archeological museum). Mind you, the rows of seats were still virtually intact when uncovered in 1884, as were probably also some of the theatre´s architectural structures and the adjoining nymphaeum, a large ornamental fountain. The construction of a warehouse in 1919 and its extension in the post-war years put an end to it, destroying most of what was still left of this magnificent building. In the 1970s a housing project on this spot was stopped due to fierce campaigning. Finally, since 1998 the site is in public hands but its conservation has hardly advanced since then. A project to musealize the abandoned site has been on the table for years now. By name a World Heritage site, but the money (from the Catalan government or the Spanish central government) to make the theatre into a real heritage site is just not coming in. O tempora, o mores!