Plaça Nova — Twin Roman Towers

The Twin Roman Towers at Plaça Nova form Barcelona's oldest gateway, constructed when Emperor Augustus founded the Roman colony of Barcino between 15 and 13 BC. The defensive site was reinforced in the late third century with walls eight meters thick and 18-meter-high towers. An arch reconstructed in 1958 marks the exact entry point of two Roman aqueducts, while Joan Brossa's 1994 bronze letter installation decorates the pavement outside.

Barcelona · from the walk “Stones & Secrets: Hidden Courtyards of the Barri Gòtic” · audio ~3 min · Generated

Plaça Nova, Barcelona

What is the history behind the Twin Roman Towers at Plaça Nova in Barcelona?

Take a good look at those two massive stone cylinders in front of you. They may seem like just part of the scenery... but you are standing at the Oldest gateway in Barcelona. This is the Porta Praetoria... the northern entrance to the Roman colony of Barcino.......... Now, Barcino... that wasn't just a casual name. The city's full official title was Colonia Iulia Augusta Faventia Paterna Barcino. Quite a mouthful! It was founded between fifteen and thirteen B.C. by order of Emperor Augustus himself, who decided to give land here to veterans of the Cantabrian Wars... soldiers who had fought the fierce tribes of northern Spain.......... But what exactly are you looking at? This gate had Three openings... a wide central passage for carriages, and two smaller ones on either side for pedestrians. One of those lateral passageways and the two semicircular towers that defended it have survived from the first through fourth centuries.......... Now here's a detail most people walk right past. See that arch embedded in the left tower? That is Not the original Roman aqueduct. It's a reconstruction, built in nineteen fifty-eight! But don't dismiss it... it marks the Exact point where the Roman aqueduct entered the city. In fact, when archaeologists opened up that tower in nineteen fifty-eight, they discovered Two aqueduct channels inside it... water from the hills of Moncada and the Colserola range, converging at this very spot to supply the entire colony.......... The towers you see today were heightened in the twelfth century, but the massive stone blocks at the base... those are Original Roman construction. In the late third to early fourth century, the Romans built a double wall up to eight meters thick, with seventy to eighty towers standing about eighteen meters high. So many towers packed along a perimeter of barely one thousand three hundred meters earned Barcino the nickname... "the Crowned City."

...... And if you glance down at the pavement in front of the towers, you might notice giant bronze letters scattered across the square. That's a visual poem by the barcelOna poet Joan Brossa, created in nineteen ninety-two and installed in nineteen ninety-four. Each letter takes the shape of a different symbol... a compass, a sun, a moon, a pyramid... spelling out the word Barcino. It's Brossa's way of whispering the city's ancient name back to life, right where two thousand years of history began.......... Two thousand years... and those towers are still standing guard.

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