Roman Barcino

Field Trip

I had no idea what to expect when I went to the Roman Barcino. I knew that the Romans were the first to create cities, but I had no idea how complex they would be or what they would be like. The first thing we did before we went to the museum was see the remnants of a Roman wall. It was just in the middle of a neighborhood, while people’s clothing was draped around it for drying. I thought this was so strange! This ancient pieces of history with clothes around it, completely unnoticed by the people around it. To me, this is unfathomable. In Illinois, I found a fossil of a plant in my yard and thought I hit the jackpot. Here, it is an entire civilization that is outside someone’s kitchen! I guess this is how all of Europe is and people are just used to it. But anyways, the wall was very much in tact and does not look like anything I have ever seen before.

When we got to the museum we saw some pictures and descriptions of events in Spanish history. It was in Catalan and I couldn’t really understand what the words were saying. Then my entire class packed into one elevator and went back in time like 2500 years. What I mean was instead of the elevator saying we were going down three flights, it said how many years were were going back. I thought that’s was very fun and also conditioned me for when I would get out of the elevator. When the doors open I see this vast maze-like area of glass floors and railing. It was the ancient city of Barcelona when the Romans built it. Although it was only one small area of the city, I could get the feeling that I was in the middle of it. The Roman ruins were all in the ground and there were glass floors on top of it for us to walk on. The ruins were all made out of stone and looked like rocky concrete. There were various rooms that were all for different purposes. Some had an oven and you could tell it was used as a kitchen. Others had shelves and barrels that were for storage of food and grain. There were even ancient freezers! Some cod was salted and dried and put in a room to keep it fresh. Another room was a winery. There were barrels for the grapes and an area for them to be smashed and fermented. Wine was a huge part of their culture and so they took it very seriously. Overall, it was really cool to see some of the work the Romans did and to see how it has lasted throughout the years. Now I am able to identify other Roman aspects of the city.