We propose a walk through the winding streets of the old town of the city. We are going to discover everything that has been happening within the city walls throughout history and, above all, we are g... (plus +)

We propose a walk through the winding streets of the old town of the city. We are going to discover everything that has been happening within the city walls throughout history and, above all, we are going to delve into the places where power has resided and still resides: the forums, the conventual and the plaza. Total route: 1.68 kms. The route begins at the TERMAS DE LA CALLE PONTEZUELAS located on a site that was once occupied by a ham drying facility until 2002, where remains of 1st century houses located outside the city walls were found, as well as a thermal complex whose layout is almost intact. Then we reach the PUERTA DE LA VILLA, a square in the center of which stands a fountain with a bronze female statue. It represents archaeology as a woman dressed in Roman fashion, carrying a laurel wreath in one of her hands. The sculpture is the work of the renowned local sculptor Juan de Ávalos. It was made in homage to the archaeologists who began excavations in Mérida at the beginning of the 20th century. If we look to the background, to our right, we discover the presence of another statue, in this case made of marble. It is the ideal representation of the Martyr Eulalia, the city's patron saint. It was made by another sculptor from Mérida: Eduardo Zancaza. To our left, Santa Eulalia street opens up, a true vital artery of the city that perpetuates what was the axis of the Roman Colony, the Decumanus Maximus. This road divided the city from west to east, from the bridge gate over the Guadiana to where we are now, the place where another gate was located, hence this square is called Puerta de la Villa. The accesses to the Decumanus Hall show us a fragment of the decumanus maximus, with its diorite and quartzite slabs, as well as remains of the porticos that flanked it. Already inside the aforementioned Hall, it is worth admiring a unique archaeological testimony. It is a Roman cistern used by the first Christians of the town as an improvised church. Through Berzocana and San José streets we converge on Sagasta street. The first complex we come across is the so-called PÓRTICO DEL FORO. It is the corner of a monumental portico that was part of the grandiose propaganda program of the ancient Municipal Forum of Augusta Emerita. This portico was erected around the middle of the 1st century in the image and likeness of the Forum of Augustus in Rome. Continuing further down Sagasta Street we reach the TEMPLE OF DIANA, an Imperial Cult Temple located at the back of a large square that was partially leveled, as evidenced by remains of a cryptoportico in some areas. The temple, of rectangular plan, rises on a high granite podium that ends in moldings. On it rests the colonnade whose granite drums were stuccoed and painted. This colonnade surrounds the entire temple. It must have been erected even under the power of Augustus. Its exceptional state of preservation is due to the fact that, for centuries, the temple served as the foundation and framework of the Renaissance Palace of the Count of los Corbos, of which some parts are still preserved. We walk along Romero Leal street, where some 19th century manor houses or from the early 20th century are still preserved, to reach the ALCAZABA CULTURAL CENTER, where we can see remains of blocks of the Roman city delimited by roads. These blocks present a mixture of structures from different periods and with different functions, such as a high-imperial public space of which a large pond is preserved, later reused for the construction of some baths. Before reaching the Plaza de España, it is obligatory to pass through the Plaza del Rastro, where we can admire the facade of the Conventual Santiaguista. The access to the building is through a semicircular arch entrance. The main body of the Conventual is joined by the homage tower, a solid cube with a single tiny opening. Attached to this we see the facade of what was the prioral church, reformed to house an auditorium. This building is now the seat of the Presidency of the Government of Extremadura. In the PLAZA DE ESPAÑA, the presence of a neobaroque marble fountain from the late 19th century stands out in its center, a work from the Lisbon workshop of Germano José do Salles. From a large circular pond emerges a pedestal with cupids that, mounted on dolphins, make cornucopias sound. The arcades that are preserved, and that surrounded the entire enclosure, are the result of several reforms. The oldest building of all that surround the Plaza de España is the CO-CATHEDRAL OF SANTA MARÍA. The finding of some Visigothic pieces suggests that the famous mother cathedral of Santa María de Jerusalén was located here, with its baptistery, the episcopal palace and the atrium that united them. The truth is that, after the city was reconquered, a hermitage was erected here that was progressively expanded. Today it is presented to us as an archaic Gothic complex, that is, a very massive and squat temple, with simple pinnacles at the head. Around the Plaza we can also contemplate the Palacio de los Mendoza and La casa de los Pacheco, the Círculo Emeritense, the Casa Consistorial and the Palacio de la China. Going up Calle Santa Julia we access the old CONVENT OF SANTA CLARA, a convent that belonged to the Clarisas nuns and that was not well finished until the 17th century. It is a landmark work of classicist baroque, despite the many vicissitudes that its construction had. Inside is the Visigothic Collection that contains a multitude of testimonies of what the Visigothic Mérida was, especially the pieces that decorated it: cimacios, pilasters, windows, columns, lattices, or that were part of the liturgy in the churches of the powerful bishopric of Mérida: gates, fonts, altar tables. We can also see slabs or sepulchral inscriptions of the Christians of that time, as well as objects of goldsmithing, ceramics and glass. Through a narrow alley that runs between the head of the old Church of Santa Clara and the back of the house of the Pacheco, we come out into the secluded square of Santa Clara, which is joined to another square that faces the building of the old HOSPITAL DE SAN JUAN DE DIOS, today the seat of the Regional Assembly. This Franciscan foundation is of a baroque style, with granite plinths and corners, while the rest of the buildings and entrances are made of brick. Its interior is articulated around a two-story arcaded courtyard, the first with semicircular arches and the second with a gallery of lowered arches. Very close to there is the ARCO DE TRAJANO, which was the monumental gateway to the sacred space (temenos) that surrounded a gigantic temple of imperial cult. The semicircular arch, which preserves a height of 15 meters from the start of the piers, was the central opening of a gate with three arches, the two lateral ones being smaller and lowered. Its entire structure was made of granite ashlars. Next to the arch is the old Convent of the Concepcionistas, where the Renaissance and Baroque styles are mixed. A few meters away, going up Calle San Francisco, is the old HOSPITAL DE JESÚS NAZARENO, a building that has been undergoing reforms since its construction began in 1725. It was a convent, a hospital for the poor, a field hospital, a prison and a museum. Today this building houses one of the most luxurious and oldest national paradores, as it was inaugurated by King Alfonso XIII. It is worth entering and seeing the small cloister inside. Its columns, from Roman or Visigothic buildings, show Arabic Kufic inscriptions with invocations to Allah on their shafts. If we go down a few meters on Holguín Street, we come across the remains of the Provincial Forum Temple, of which we can only see a corner of its podium. Its core is made of concrete lined with ashlar. Some of the preserved marble column drums, all of them, prove the magnificence with which this building was constructed and, above all, its colossal nature, since only the podium has a height of 3.10 meters in what is preserved. Very close to the remains of this temple, and to conclude our route, is the CHURCH OF EL CARMEN, which was erected by the Order of the Barefoot Franciscans in the mid-18th century, becoming a madhouse after its confiscation. The church displays curious city coats of arms on its facade. It is another example of classicist baroque, the most prolific in the city.
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