Photo: Kippelboy · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Museu d'Història de Tarragona

Municipal museum that manages Tarragona's Roman monuments (amphitheatre, circus, forum, Praetorium) and historic houses; based in the Casa Castellarnau.

Opening hoursAdmission €5

Website Directions

Limited operations. The seat, the Casa Castellarnau (carrer dels Cavallers, 14), has been closed for restoration works since 11 December 2023. The rest of the museum's sites (amphitheatre, Archaeological Walk, Praetorium and circus, Forum of the Colonia, Casa Canals and Volta del Pallol) remain open; the ticket office is in the Antiga Audiència.

About the museum

The Museu d'Història de Tarragona is a department of the town council, under the Area of Culture, Heritage and Festivities. Its main seat is the Casa Castellarnau on the carrer dels Cavallers. It manages the city's main Roman monuments and two buildings from the modern period, and also provides dissemination and property heritage management services. Among its activities, the organisation of the Tàrraco Viva days stands out.

Its origins lie in the former city museum, housed in the Volta del Pallol. In 1964 it was agreed to create a Romantic-period museum in the Casa Castellarnau and, after the Municipal Board of Fine Arts was constituted in 1968, the Casa Museu Castellarnau was opened on 22 September 1977, with the noble floor restored and furnished and the Molas collection on the ground floor. In 1979 the town council took over the functions of the board and of the museum directly.

The collections come from acquisitions and donations. The largest is the Molas collection, which accounts for about 60% of the total and brings together archaeological and ethnographic pieces from prehistory to the modern period, firearms, tiles and coins. They are joined by the municipal art fund of Sánchez Camargo, the Quintana bequest, which includes a model of the first aircraft to fly over the city in 1913, the Torrell-Martín fund and the watercolours of Joan Baptista Plana. The Casa Castellarnau has been closed for restoration works since 11 December 2023; the rest of the museum's sites remain open to the public.

Highlights

Roman amphitheatre, scene of the martyrdom of Bishop Fructuosus in the year 259
Roman circus and Praetorium of the Provincial Forum
Forum of the Colonia and Archaeological Walk along the city walls
Casa Canals, 19th-century mansion with period furniture
Model of Tàrraco and video mapping in the Volta del Pallol

Permanent exhibition

Maqueta de Tàrraco en la Volta del Pallol – Model of the Roman city in the 2nd century AD, with a video-mapping projection that explains Tàrraco before the visit begins.

Founded: 1977
Operated by: Ajuntament de Tarragona

Admission & discounts

Adults	€5
Reduced	–50% discount: pensioners, young people aged 12 to 17, students, groups of more than 20 people, people with an accredited disability and single-parent families
Children & teens	freefree up to age 11 · Free admission for children under 12.
Seniors	–50% discount
Visitors with disabilities	–50% discount for people with an accredited disability.
Students & apprentices	–50% discount
Groups (20+ people)	–School groups (maximum 30 pupils): €20 per group and site, or €30 per group with the combined ticket; Volta del Pallol, €20 per group.
Families	–Large families: a single ticket for the whole family.
Combined ticket (valid for 5 sites: Archaeological Walk, Circus-Praetorium, Forum of the Colonia, Amphitheatre and Casa Canals)	€15
Volta del Pallol – video mapping	€5Free up to age 12.
Passi Tarragoní (annual pass for residents registered in Tarragona)	€5Gives free entry to the museum's sites and to other museums in the city.

Individual ticket of €5, valid for one site. Free admission, in addition to children under 12: unemployed people, members of ICOM, ICOMOS and other heritage associations, teaching staff, accredited journalists and official guides. The Ferreres aqueduct is free to access.