San Miguel Tarraco Arena

HistoryWe have been organizing events for more than 2,000 years.
Events in Tarragona

We have been organizing events for more than 2,000 years. 

Tarragona is an ancient city Roman that during the Roman Empire was one of the main cities of Hispania and capital of the Roman province Hispania Citerior o Hispania Tarraconensis.

The full name of the city was Colonia Iulia Urbs Triumphalis Tarraco. In 2000, the archaeological site of Tarraco was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. World Heritage World Heritage Unesco.

Tarraco, the Roman Tarragona, was born in 218 BC, with the arrival of the Roman armies to the Iberian Peninsula. Tarragona was the work of the Scipiones (the brothers Cnaeus and Publius Cornelius). This is what Pliny said some time later, in the 1st century A.D. In fact, the foundation of the city took place in the middle of the Second Punic War (confrontation between Carthage and Rome). 

The port is a basic point in the formation of the city. The best preserved, however, from the Roman Republican period is the city wall. At the beginning it was simply a kind of wooden fence protecting the military area. Later, with the victory of Rome over the Carthaginians and the consolidation of Hispania as part of the Roman state, a stone construction was built around 197 B.C. And a little later, it surrounded the entire enclosure of Tarraco, the entire urban nucleus.

The moment of greatest splendor of Tarragona as a Roman colony took place in the years 26 and 25 BC when Augustus resided there to lead the campaigns against Cantabrians and Asturians. This military presence caused Tarraco to grow urbanistically. The lighthouse and the Roman theater are examples of this.

In 73 all Hispanics were considered full Roman citizens. In addition, new administrative demarcations were created whose base was the provincial capital. Thus, Tarraco, as the capital of Hispania Tarraconensis or Citerior, had two forums, one colonial and the other provincial. Years later the circus was added to the latter.

In the second century, also a time of great boom of the city, another place of entertainment was built: the amphitheater.

The amphitheater of Tarragona during the Roman Empire was a space for events.

Tarraco was one of the most important important of Roman Hispania. The amphitheater is an oval-shaped building built at the end of the second century A.D. It was located outside the walls, very close to the Via Augusta that crossed the city and shortly before the famous road was introduced inside the walled enclosure.

It measured 109.5 by 86.5 meters in total and had a capacity for about 14,000 spectators. It is part of the archaeological complex of Tarraco.

Inside, shows were held, such as the popular gladiatorial combats, fights with wild beasts and athletic exhibitions.

Over the years, in that same enclosure, the Tarraconenses, we have organized events of all kinds. Festivities to welcome tourists from all over the world, festivals of Roman recreation, musical performances, dance shows.

Today, Tarragona is still one of the great unknown cities of the Mediterranean. A different alternative, surrounded by walls and stones that speak for themselves. In Tarragona we are used to organize events, it is our daily life. Diables, Castells, Festivals, street shows, concerts, etc.. A city open to the world that has been organizing events for more than 2,000 years.

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