Castello de Ampurias tourist information

Castello dEmpuries lies very near L´Escala. It has a good beach, which is bathed by the most important archaeological site in Spain, the ruins of the Greek Paleopolis at Sant Marti d´Empuries, with the Neopolis, necropolis and the Roman Ruins as well as the museum of the excavations.

The foundation of Empuries is ascribed to the Greeks who had settled at Marsseille in 550BC. They first erected a small building near the native village of Indica, which was the Paleopolis on what used to be an island. Half a century later they founded the Neopolis called Emporion on the mainland, which eventually became one with Indica and an important Greek colony. The Romans landed at Empuries to fight the Carthaginians and ended up by building a town ten times as large as the Greek one. The Visigoths made it into an episcopal seat, while the Moors razed it when they found resistance. The Norman pirates put the final "touch" to it in the 9C.

A visit of the ruins shows the market, the agora, the holy area where the temples stood and the main one dedicated to Jupiter. Among a group of altars, the statue of Aesculapius was found, a reproduction of which can be seen. The museum shows reproductions of the most valuable finds, which are kept in Barcelona and Girona. The ruins of a Christian basilica and Visigothic sarcophagi are found the harbour area. Of the Roman town, the southern wall, the amphitheatre and the arena are preserved as well as the ruins of a Roman villa with the impluvium, arcaded patios and some beautiful mosaics.