Museo del Teatro de Caesaraugusta

Withouth any doubt, the theatre was the finest and most popular building in the city. The austerity to be seen today in its walls and foundations bears witness to its grandeur, but not to the ostentatious richnesswith which its rulers endowed it. Fortunately today, archaeological excavations have recovered material traces of its grandeur: fine floors, columns, cornices, sculptural, remains, all showing the careful attention the building received at the height of its existence.

Situated in a privileged urban area, in line with the Baths and the Forum, building was begun in Tiberius¿ time, although it was not completed until later. Its heyday was during the time of the Julian-Claudian and Flavian dynasties, and went into decline in the 3rd century, when it began to be systematically looted. However, although it fell into disuse as a building for spectacles, its ruins were re-used early on, and it has been the site for housing all through history, bearing latent witness to the life of Zaragoza up to the 20th century.

Architecturally, the Caesaravgvsta theatre is an excellent example of a prototype to be found all over the Roman Mediterranean world. It is a building constructed as an arena, unlike the theatres in which the spectators¿ seats were on the side of a hill. This brought about the existence of enclosed chambers and vaulted galleries that supported its immense weight, through which a complex system of traffic with three main axes gave access to the theatre. Recently, archaeological work has revealed part of the stage; although only the foundations remain, on-going archaeological research may finally be able to reconstruct the facade.