Roman Walls of Lugo

Lugo, Spain

Roman Walls of Lugo are an exceptional architectural, archaeological and constructive legacy of Roman engineering, dating from the 3rd and 4th centuries AD. The Walls are built of internal and external stone facings of slate with some granite, with a core filling of a conglomerate of slate slabs and worked stone pieces from Roman buildings, interlocked with lime mortar.

Their total length of 2117 m in the shape of an oblong rectangle occupies an area of 1.68 ha. Their height varies between 8 and 10 m, with a width of 4.2 m, reaching 7 m in some specific points. The walls still contain 85 external towers, 10 gates (five of which are original and five that were opened in modern times), four staircases and two ramps providing access to the walkway along the top of the walls, one of which is internal and the other external. Each tower contained access stairs leading from the intervallum to the wall walk of town wall, of which a total of 21 have been discovered to date.

The defences of Lugo are the most complete and best preserved example of Roman military architecture in the Western Roman Empire.

Despite the renovation work carried out, the walls conserve their original layout and the construction features associated with their defensive purpose, with walls, battlements, towers, fortifications, both modern and original gates and stairways, and a moat.

Since they were built, the walls have defined the layout and growth of the city, which was declared a Historical-Artistic Ensemble in 1973, forming a part of it and becoming an emblematic structure that can be freely accessed to walk along. The local inhabitants and visitors alike have used them as an area for enjoyment and as a part of urban life for centuries.

The fortifications were added to UNESCO's World Heritage List in late 2000 and are a popular tourist attraction.

References:

Comments

Your name



Address

Rúa da Tinería 48, Lugo, Spain
See all sites in Lugo

Details

Founded: 3rd century AD
Category: Castles and fortifications in Spain

Rating

4.7/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Stuart McCleane (2 years ago)
The Roman walls that enclose the historical part of the city are super wide on top and you can stroll or even jog around them. I'm told that they it's three kilometers or so to get back to where you started but I'm yet to complete a full circuit!!
Gabriel Liebehenz (2 years ago)
Beatiful . The only thing , it’s marked as a wailchairs place, (it has an ?) however the entity ground is with a kind of sand dust and it’s extremely complicate to drive in it.
San InfoTech (Sanjay Sirsat) (2 years ago)
The Roman walls of Lugo (Spanish, Galician: Muralla Romana de Lugo) were constructed in the 3rd century and are still largely intact, stretching over 2 kilometers around the historic centre of Lugo in Galicia (Spain).
Laura Skillen (3 years ago)
This wall is beautiful in its own right, and makes for a lovely sunset stroll. It's around 2km in length and offers views both within and without the city. A really nice wind-down after a day of walking the Camino!
Powered by Google

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Historic Site of the week

Linderhof Palace

Linderhof is the smallest of the three palaces built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria and the only one which he lived to see completed.

Ludwig II, who was crowned king in 1864, began his building activities in 1867-1868 by redesigning his rooms in the Munich Residenz and laying the foundation stone of Neuschwanstein Castle. In 1868 he was already making his first plans for Linderhof. However, neither the palace modelled on Versailles that was to be sited on the floor of the valley nor the large Byzantine palace envisaged by Ludwig II were ever built.

Instead, the new building developed around the forester's house belonging to his father Maximilian II, which was located in the open space in front of the present palace and was used by the king when crown prince on hunting expeditions with his father.