Things to do in Municipality of Cartagena, Region of Murcia: The Best Specialty Museums

By visiting the Museum of the Roman Theatre you will encounter one of the most surprising discoveries of the city in the last decades. Thanks to the ingenious design of the architect Rafael Moneo, you will start your tour of the Palace of Riquelme, the first building of the museum, and then follow the historical hallway located under the street to then move to the new space that collects the most emblematic pieces of all found in the excavations. Using modern stairs you will come to the second tunnel, this time is under the medieval church of Santa Maria, a construction superimposed to the old theatre which increases its uniqueness and attraction. After this, the second corridor, will take you to the most relevant part of the museum, the Roman Theatre, one of the largest in the Roman Hispania with capacity for 7,000 people.

Around 4000 years of culture in the area of Cartagena is represented. One of the prize pieces is an extremely beautiful(even by modern standards) piece of jewellery found at Los Nietos, just a local train ride away on the shore of the Mar Menor.

In the Punic Wall you will encounter one of the most important episodes in the history of the Mediterranean, the Punic Wars between the Carthaginians and the Romans. You will meet the legendary past of Qart Hadast founded by the general Hasdrubal in 229 BC and its most significant, the wall, one of the few remaining Carthaginian relics still found in Spain. In addition, next to the wall, you can see the funerary crypt of the hermitage of San Jose built in the 16th and 17th centuries. Its walls offer a very macabre representation of the Dances of Death.

By visiting the Christmas Fort you will learn in detail the defensive system of Cartagena throughout history. Enrol like a cabin boy on our Tourist Boat, and you will be able to enter the only coastal battery adapted to show military and everyday life in a 19th century fortress. Nestled in the right margin of the bay and next to the lighthouse of the same name, the Christmas Fort keeps witness of the political, social and military conflicts of the past centuries. Examine the bunkers, learn how to handle a canon and discover the diet and the life of the gunners. Finish your visit enjoying the magnificent views from the terrace and relaxing on the return journey aboard the tourist boat.

In the Augusteum, a temple dedicated to the first Roman Emperor Octavian Augustus, one is able to learn about the cult to the emperor, the theatrical pomp and the displays of great wealth and prestige devised by the priests. As a means of spreading the imperial ideology, it relied on a great decorative richness, as is evidenced by the quarried marble floors, marking the splendour of a bygone era. When close to the Forum, one can explore this meeting and market place dating from Roman times, which was an important religious, administrative, political and economic centre.