Arco de Trajano

Mérida


This imposing 15m-high granite archway isn't known to have anything to do with Roman emperor Trajan, but it was situated on one of Mérida's main Roman streets and, in its original marble-covered form, may have served as an entrance to a sacred area.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Mérida attractions

1. Museo de Arte Visigodo

0.05 MILES

Many of the Visigothic objects unearthed in Mérida are exhibited in this archaeological museum, set inside a 16th-century church-convent just off the…

2. Templo de Diana

0.15 MILES

The soaring columns here are one of Mérida's most dramatic, incongruous sights, surrounded as they are by the buildings of a modern Spanish city…

3. Alcazaba

0.16 MILES

This large Islamic fort was built in the mid-9th century on a site already occupied by the Romans and Visigoths, probably becoming the first ever alcazaba…

4. Zona Arqueológica de Morería

0.19 MILES

This excavated Moorish quarter contains the remains of a cemetery, walls, houses dating from Roman to post-Islamic times and the foundations of a 4th…

5. Pórtico del Foro

0.2 MILES

The restored 1st-century Pórtico del Foro, the municipal forum's portico, is 100m northeast up Calle de Sagasta from the Templo de Diana.

6. Puente Romano

0.26 MILES

Don't miss the extraordinarily powerful spectacle of the Puente Romano spanning the Río Guadiana. At 792m in length with 60 granite arches, it's one of…

7. Puente Lusitania

0.28 MILES

The modern 20th-century Puente Lusitania, a sleek suspension bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava, mirrors Mérida's Roman bridge to the northwest.

8. Cripta de Santa Eulalia

0.3 MILES

This basilica was built in the 5th century in honour of Mérida's pat­ron saint, who is said to have been martyred in the 4th century. It was then…