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 The Spanish city of Barcelona (Barcino to the Romans) today has a well-earned reputation as
a “party town”. Often full of tourists from other parts of Europe and the Americas, boasting a vibrant night life,
and home to immigrants from North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, Barcelona is today as cosmopolitan as any city in Western
Europe. As a port city, famed in Roman times for its major exports of Spanish wine and fish sauce (garum), it would
have been cosmopolitan then, as well. Today’s visitor needn’t look far beyond the
bars, bistros, nightclubs and hotels of the famed La Rambla to find substantial traces of the City’s ancient past. Fewer
than 200 meters east of La Rambla, in Vila de Madrid Square, is evidence of the Roman city’s sepulchral way. As with
all Roman cities, Barcino’s cemeteries were laid out along major roads in and out of the city, beyond the walls, and
some of these are now visible just north of the roughly oval shaped Roman city, which corresponds roughly to today’s
old city quarter, referred to by the locals as “el Gotic”. 
During demolition to remove a 16th Century convent and church damaged during the Spanish Civil War, a
section of the sepulchral way was discovered. It contained 70 tombs of the 2nd and 3rd Centuries AD in a variety of styles
and materials. Many of these may be viewed today either from the plaza directly above or, during certain open hours, up close
in their semi-subterranean setting. The tombstones include clear interpretive displays and translations of the funerary inscriptions.
Further impressive evidence of the City’s Roman past may be found in the large public square, Placa Nova,
that fronts the impressive 14th Century and later Cathedral of Santa Eulalia. Partly incorporated today into the complex of
Diocesan buildings around the square are parts of the Roman city’s northern gateway, probably dating to the 4th Century
AD. Just a few meters away are remains of arched aqueducts that brought water into the city at this point.
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The Museu Arqueologic, located in the scenic Parc de Montjuic overlooking the City and its port, is
well worth a visit. It includes finds from both the City itself and from outlying areas in Ampurias, ranging in date from
prehistoric to Visigothic. After a busy day touring Barcelona’s past, this writer highly
recommends transitioning back into the present with a superb dinner at Attic Restaurant, located upstairs at Les Rambles 120,
or an early evening visit to the amazing La Boqueria public market for a build-it-yourself meal. There are several convenient
wine bars immediately next door to the market. Either way, this may be followed by a leisurely night stroll down La Rambla.
For travelers accustomed to visiting ancient classical sites in the Mediterranean and Near East,
Roman ruins in England may at first seem underwhelming. They tend to be relatively small in size and often poorly preserved;
sometimes little more than a few courses of brick remaining. But it is precisely this manageable size, and the fact that so
many Roman sites in England have been so thoroughly studied for so long, that allows the modern visitor to appreciate more
intimately these sites. A short train ride north of London, St Albans is a case in point.
A settlement has existed
at St Albans since the late Iron Age, when it was a center for the Celtic tribe of the Catuvellauni. With the arrival of the
Romans in AD 43, the town began to grow and prosper. But in AD 60 or 61, the year of the Boudiccan Revolt, the town was largely
destroyed. Verulamium recovered quickly and by AD 140 the town had doubled in size, covering 100 acres, and featuring a Forum,
public baths, many prosperous private townhouses and outlying villas. Despite fires and other blows, the town continued to
grow and had sufficient resources at its disposal around AD 275 to build an impressive defensive wall and ditch enclosing
an area of 203 acres.
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| Long surviving section of Verulamium's city walls |
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| Surviving section of Verulamium's city wall known as St Germain's Block |
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| Mosaic preserved in situ and featuring subfloor heating, from a townhouse in Verulamium AD 160-190 |
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| The Abbey Church at St Albans showing use of recycled Roman brick and other building material |
Today the site of Verulamium sits in an idyllic public park, with playing fields, ponds, bike and walking trails
and large expanses of open green space and woods, all just at the edge of St Albans itself. The antiquities of the ancient
site were recorded as early as the 16th Century, with serious excavations beginning in the mid-19th Century. Much of the site
was listed as a public monument in 1923 and acquired by the City of St Albans in 1929. Mortimer and Tessa Wheeler began systematic
controlled excavations in 1930. They were followed by the likes of Kathleen Kenyon and other prominent archaeologists, and
excavations continue on a smaller scale today. Verulamium Museum was opened on the site in 1939, with major improvements in
1998.
Today Verulamium Museum houses an outstanding collection of Roman mosaic floors, some of the best Roman
wall paintings to have survived in England, and a vast collection of small finds, from the most humble to the magnificent.
The quality of the displays is excellent and includes recreated rooms from private homes in the town and finds from the many
outlying wealthy villas in the region.
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| Example of the high quality displays in the Roman Verulamium Museum |
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| The Shell Mosaic, circa AD150, now in Verulamium Museum |
This writer recommends a visit to Verulamium Museum prior to setting off to see the remains of the town. A
very good guide book is available from the Museum shop. There are also many good restaurants in the High Street of St Albans
for the hungry visitor.
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