What were the houses like in the Barcelona of the ancient Romans?
The route ‘Housing in Barcino’, which is planned by MUHBA, will take you on a tour of two Roman ‘domus’ dating from the 1st and 4th centuries.
In the times of the ancient Romans, Barcino was actually a very small city, and although it had a great deal of commercial activity, it was far from being one of the Roman Empire’s strongholds. But ancient Barcino is where the story of Barcelona began and the city preserves a large number of remains dating from the 1st to the 4th centuries AD. Barcelona was founded at the beginning of the 1st century, when Augustus was Emperor. Nowadays, you can still see tombs and temples columns and make out how the streets were laid out in the Born neighbourhood. And if you’re curious about what life was like in the houses of the city’s patricians, you can take advantage of the routes planned by the Museum of the History of Barcelona, or MUHBA, which will call in at two Roman houses in the centre of the city.
‘Housing in Barcino’ makes two stops: the first at Domus Avinyó, located in the street of the same name, which dates from the 1st century and still conserved paintings on its ceiling. The second is at Domus Sant Honorat, which was built in the 4th century, towards the end of the Roman Empire, and which still conserves the outline of its ancient garden and floor mosaics. These two houses give one an idea of what life was like in the city some 2,000 years ago.
Additional information is available on the MUHBA website. The next visits are scheduled for 8 April and 20 May.