Museo Nacional de Arte Romano (National Museum of Roman Art)

Museo Nacional de Arte Romano (National Museum of Roman Art) Review

Across the street from the entrance to the Roman sites and connected by an underground passageway is Mérida's superb, modern Museo Nacional de Arte Romano, in a monumental building designed by the renowned Spanish architect Rafael Moneo. You walk through a series of passageways to the luminous, cathedral-like main exhibition hall, which is supported by arches the same proportion and size (50 feet) as the Roman arch in the center of Mérida, the Arco de Trajano (Trajan's Arch). The exhibits include mosaics, frescoes, jewelry, statues, pottery, household utensils, and other Roman works. Visit the crypt beneath the museum—it houses the remains of several homes and a necropolis that were uncovered while the museum was built in 1981.