Plaça de Ramon Berenguer el Gran — Roman Wall Walk
The Plaça de Ramon Berenguer el Gran in Barcelona features a remarkably preserved section of late third-century Roman city walls constructed partly from looted ancient tombstones and topped by a medieval Gothic chapel. Built with 76 to 81 towers, the double fortification protected ancient Barcino against Germanic raids. Atop the ancient stones stands the 1302 Royal Chapel of Santa Agata, accompanied by an 1888 bronze statue of Count Ramon Berenguer III.
Barcelona · from the walk “Stones & Secrets: Hidden Courtyards of the Barri Gòtic” · audio ~3 min · Generated
Plaça de Ramon Berenguer el Gran, Barcelona
- Emperor Augustus founded the Roman colony of Barcino on Mount Taber between 15 and 10 B.C.
- The late third-century Roman wall at Plaça de Ramon Berenguer el Gran included between 76 and 81 towers.
- King Jaume the Second commissioned the Royal Chapel of Santa Agata atop the Roman wall in 1302.
- Sculptor Frederic Marés added a controversial new tail to Josep Llimona's 1888 statue of Ramon Berenguer the Third.
Why was the Roman wall at Plaça de Ramon Berenguer el Gran in Barcelona built using looted tombstones?
Look at this wall. Really Look at it. What you see rising before you is not one story, but many... layers of stone laid down across two Thousand years of history, still standing in the heart of Barcelona.......... This is the Plaça de Ramon Berenguer el Gran, and that towering stretch of ancient masonry is one of the best-preserved sections of the Roman wall that once encircled a tiny colony called Barcino. Can you imagine? This entire great city began as a small settlement for retired Roman soldiers, founded by Emperor Augustus sometime between fifteen and ten B.C., perched on a modest hill called Mount Taber, barely seventeen meters above sea level.......... Now here is something most people walk right past without realizing. The wall you see is actually Two walls built on top of each other. The first was a simple, humble affair... because Barcino was founded during the Pax Romana. There was no real need for serious defenses. But then, in the late third century, Germanic tribes... the Franks... began raiding Hispania. And the Romans panicked. They threw up a Massive new fortification, a double wall several meters thick, with between seventy six and eighty one towers, some reaching eighteen meters high.......... And here is the dark secret hidden in the stones. Look closely at the lower sections. You will notice different kinds of stone, odd shapes, fragments that do not quite match. That is because the Romans, in their desperate rush to fortify the city, Looted their own cemetery. They ripped apart funerary monuments and tombstones... the graves of their own dead... and stuffed them into the wall as building material. Ancient recycling, born from fear.......... At the foot of this wall, archaeologists also found the remains of the original moat, which served double duty... as both a defense and a sewer.......... Now look UP. See the elegant Gothic structure perched on top of the Roman stones? That is the Royal Chapel of Santa Agata, built in thirteen oh two by order of King Jaume the Second and his wife Blanca d'Anjou. Inside, it houses a masterpiece of Catalan Gothic painting... the Constable Altarpiece, painted in fourteen sixty five by Jaume Huguet. The chapel literally stands on the shoulders of Rome.......... And that bronze horseman watching over the square? That is Ramon Berenguer the Third, Count of Barcelona from ten eighty two to eleven thirty one. The statue was originally sculpted in plaster by Josep Llimona in eighteen eighty eight. But when a bronze replica was finally cast after Llimona's death, the sculptor Frederic Marés had to design a new tail for the horse... and the public absolutely Hated it. They thought it was too bushy! A genuine controversy... over a horse's tail.......... Two thousand years of history, from Roman legionnaires to medieval counts to squabbling sculptors... all layered into this one remarkable square.