Ground floor

The Museum’s first thematic area (Rooms I, II and III) deals with the theme of public performances. This aspect of the Roman city is particularly relevant in the context of Mérida due to the high degree of preservation of its three performance buildings: the Theatre, Amphitheatre and Circus. Most of the objects on display in these first three rooms come from these sites.

To the left of the central nave, you can see a series of statues from the front of the theatre’s stage, arranged so as to evoke what the original building may have looked like. The statue of Ceres stands out in the central space (corresponding to Room II), with sculptures of other divinities and emperors on either side.

To the right of the central nave, in Room I, there is a model of the city in Roman times in which the visitor can see both its overall appearance and an idealised reconstruction of some of the main monuments of the period. At the back of this room, there are also some frescoes from the Amphitheatre with scenes illustrating some of the games held in the type of construction to which they belonged.

Room II contains three imperial portraits discovered in a room located in the portico behind the theatre stage. The most prominent portrait is that of Augustus, the founder of the city, who was depicted covered with a veil as a sign of his dignity as Supreme Pontiff, following a well-known model from the city of Rome itself.

After admiring some remains of the theatre's decorative sculpture to the right of Room III, we move on to Rooms IV and V, which are dedicated to religion.

Room IV specifically revolves around Eastern religions; these were the religions with the most adherents among the general population, particularly Mithraism. Particularly notable pieces in this room include several statues belonging to the largest of the complexes of the cult of Mithras in Spain, particularly the Mithraic Chronos, in the form of a young beardless man whose body is encircled by a serpent.

Room V is dedicated to official religions. This theme is represented by three sculptures to the left of the nave: Asclepius, Mercury and Venus. An area to the right of the nave can be accessed through a lintel from the Santa Eulalia Chapel, which previously belonged to a temple of Mars. In the room itself, at the back, we would like to direct your attention to the effigy identified as the Spirit of the Colony, as well as a new lintel on the right, in this case representing the city's two rivers: the Guadiana and the Albarregas.

A walk through Room VI illustrates the world of Roman funerary practices through the diverse types of tombs and sepulchral monuments found in Mérida. These were usually accompanied by texts alluding to the deceased. It was a common custom in ancient Augusta Emerita to represent the deceased on such altars with a relief portrait. From the third century CE onwards, burials became more common, and sarcophagi - such as the one displayed in the centre of the room - began to appear.

The theme of Room VII is the Roman house, as such, to the right of the central nave, a room decorated with mosaic floors and mural paintings has been recreated, with one of its entries closed off by an interesting example of Roman ironwork. Next, the visitor can view a second mosaic, with a wide variety of scenes.

The ground floor ends with Rooms VIII, IX and X, collectively dedicated to the fora of Augusta Emerita, particularly the one that may be called the forum adiectum or the ‘attached square’ of the colonial forum. At the back of the central nave, the visitor can see four robed figures under shields bearing alternating representations of the faces of Jupiter Ammon and Medusa separated by a set of caryatids. To the right of the nave, in Room VIII, various architectural remains survive from a forum building that seems to have formed part of an altar dedicated to imperial worship. Room IX, in turn, contains a display case showing numerous bronze objects.