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Mausoleum and Roman villa of Centcelles

Constantí, Tarragonès, Tarragona

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 1 Historical milestones

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Mausoleum and Roman villa of Centcelles

Historical milestone · Constantí, Tarragonès, Tarragona

The Centcelles complex brings together the remains of a Roman villa from the 1st century, from the early imperial period, six kilometres from Tarragona and next to the Francolí river, which was remodelled in the 3rd and 4th centuries, when one of its main rooms was covered with a dome decorated with the oldest surviving early Christian mosaic on the Iberian Peninsula, with hunting scenes, biblical scenes and scenes of the four seasons. It has traditionally been interpreted as the mausoleum of a high-ranking figure of the Late Empire, although a new reading places its construction around the year 420 and links it to the praetorium of the comes Hispaniarum Asterius, in the midst of a military campaign against the barbarians. In the Middle Ages the building was reused as the chapel of San Bartolomé and later as a farmhouse until 1958.

siglo IV

Photo: Joaquim Bordons i Wehrle (Public domain)

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