Via Sepulcral Romana

Via Sepulcral Romana preserves a Roman necropolis in Barcelona, dating from the first to third centuries AD. A five-metre-wide road runs through the site, following the route from Barcino’s southwest gate towards today’s Les Corts and Sarrià. Roman law kept burials outside city walls, so this secondary cemetery served mainly freed people, workers and other middle- and lower-class residents.

Eighty-five burials line both sides of the road in varied forms: six stone cupae, six altars, a stele, two inscribed slabs, thirty-three burial mounds, seventeen graves protected by tiles or amphorae, and twenty without protection. Sediment from streams flowing from Collserola covered the abandoned cemetery, preserving the graves in their original setting while other Roman remains were reused in later construction. Excavations followed its rediscovery in 1956, with further work in 1959 and between 2000 and 2003.

The landscaped square reflects the ancient setting, while a small museum explains the burials and the people behind them. Some cupae came from excavations near Barcelona’s Roman wall in the 1950s, replacing damaged originals.