The main building: Moneo Museum

Rafael Moneo Vallés' building is first and foremost a shining exemplar of 20th century Spanish architecture. First planned in 1980, it opened six years later, firmly establishing the international success of its creator.

The site it occupies is intentionally located close to the site of the Roman Theatre and Amphitheatre, the city's best known and most visited archaeological monuments. Despite being outside the Roman city walls, numerous important remains from the Roman period have been found here, including a section of aqueduct, part of the road leading out of the city towards Córdoba and a suburban neighbourhood in which private dwellings coexist with industrial buildings and burial sites. The vast majority of the remains were preserved in the basement of the modern building, which is one of the unique features of its construction. It was a pioneer in this type of measure, later imitated on many occasions in the city of Mérida itself (the crypt of Santa Eulalia, the Morería building, etc.), as well as in other parts of Spain and even abroad; an outstanding example can be seen in the remodelled Louvre.

Focusing on the Moneo Building, its general appearance is reminiscent of Roman architecture, and is therefore in keeping with its contents. It takes its spaces and shapes from Roman styles, from the dimensions of the public building to highly specific elements such as the semicircular arches. It also echoes its contents in its material: solid bricks repeated almost endlessly, their tonal variety the product of artisanal firing at different temperatures.

The building is divided into two modules: one to house the permanent exhibition and the other to attend to the other work of the Institution. The two are separated by the large diagonal Roman road found on the site, which runs through an open-air space that serves as a sort of courtyard. They are joined in parallel by two points: a large metal footbridge that passes over the road and a glass wing opening onto the courtyard.

Starting with the module that serves as the entrance, the building's exterior nods to private Roman architecture in its sobriety and general lines. As you enter, you will find the ticket offices and the shop. At the end of the hall, take a 180º left turn to go down a double ramp that will lead you to a distribution hall. The public toilets are located in this space. There is also a fork in the way that allows you to continue either to the exhibition rooms via the walkway over the road or to descend via another ramp to the Museum's crypt. The upper floors of this same module are used for the Museum's private spaces, including the assembly hall, the library, the restoration workshops and the offices.

The permanent exhibition module, which visitors can reach via the walkway over the Roman road, is preceded by a small corridor that opens to the right and ends in a room that has been used for temporary exhibitions almost since the building opened. A large door leads to the rooms in question. The imposing perspective of the central nave is divided by nine semicircular arches that replicate, in original scale, one of the city’s well-known monuments: Trajan’s Arch. Crossing this central nave, new aisles branch off. On the left, these lead to a sort of apse featuring some notable artefacts and, on the right, to a long space divided into three floors, the two upper ones with large light wells. The rooms on the ground floor are thus located to the left and right of the central nave, through which their contents and themes are distributed, while the rooms on the two upper floors only occupy the part to the right of the central nave. The latter can be accessed either via the stairs at both ends of the module, or via the lift, which can be found at the entrance end of the module.

The internal natural lighting of this module is one of the building's greatest features, with its combination of skylights at its peak and tall windows at the ends of each nave.