National Museum of Conímbriga | Roman Ruins and… • Center of Portugal

The streets and the houses with their perfumed and cool patios, the floors paved with polychromatic mosaics and the perfume coming from the baths make us imagine a pompous, almost “imperial”, Conímbriga.

Inhabited since pre-Historic times, Conímbriga was occupied by Roman troops in 139 BC and it became the prosperous capital city of the Lusitania province. In the next century, during the reign of Emperor Augustus, the urban part of the city grew. It was during this period that some of the most important buildings for everyday life in a Roman city were build such as the forum, the amphitheatre and the thermal baths. Later, a three-nave basilica was built in the town’s centre.

However, Conímbriga’s domestic design, which was developed and renovated especially between late 1st century and early 3rd century, was noted for the building of insulae and lavish domus. Conímbriga owes its charm precisely to these houses which carve in stone memories from the splendour of other times.

Visit Repuxos House and enjoy its wonderful garden which still preserves the original hydraulic infrastructure with over five hundred water jets, surrounded by a magnificent set of mosaics representing hunting scenes, mythological passages, seasons, monsters, birds and sea animals. Visit the great houses and their surroundings like Cantaber, the largest house in the city, or the Swastika house with its geometric mosaics, the Trident and Sword house or the Skeleton house and then stroll through the rental buildings around them. Climb the benches and visit the tunnels of the amphitheatre, visit the three thermal baths around the city and when stepping on the mosaics of the forum, you will imagine yourself at the political centre of this once thriving city.

You can then visit the Museum where several rooms will take you to everyday life at this Roman city through objects discovered after many years of excavations, its religious life, architecture manor houses and their decoration and even life at the forum.

Roman Portugal is expecting you at Centro of Portugal!

Schedule
Museum and Ruins
Everyday: 10:00 – 18:00 (ticket office closes at 17:15)
Sundays and holidays (free entrance for persons living in Portugal)

Closes
On January 1st, Easter Sunday, May 1st, July 24th and December 25th

National Museum of Conímbriga | Roman Ruins and Museum