Tarragona and Mérida join forces to promote their Roman heritage

Over 800 km separate Tarragona in southern Catalonia and Mérida in Extremadura, western Spain, but the two cities share a rich Roman heritage. Now they are joining forces to promote it.

Mérida and Tarragona city councils signed a collaboration agreement Thursday to promote research, conservation, outreach and joint promotion of Mérida's Roman Theatre and Tarragona's Tàrraco Theatre. 

The partnership between the two sites was made official at a ceremony attended by Tarragona Mayor, Rubén Viñuales, Mérida Mayor, Antonio Rodríguez, and Catalan President Salvador Illa, who is on an official two-day visit to Extremadura.

As Viñuales noted during the signing, the goal of the agreement is "to share knowledge, research, conservation, management, experience and projects."

"We want our professionals to work together and our young people to get to know both of our cities," Viñuales said. "For visitors who come to Tarragona to discover Mérida, and for those who come to Mérida to feel the same curiosity about Tarragona." 

"Today, two cities separated by distance are reunited by what has connected them for more than two thousand years," he said.

According to the mayor, both Tarraco (Tarragona) and Augusta Emerita (Mérida) were among the great cities of Roman Hispania, cities that were "capitals, centers of power, culture and knowledge" and that still bear the traces of that civilization today.

Mérida Mayor Antonio Rodríguez said the agreement will help "highlight" the relationship the two cities shared in Roman times and support its preservation.

The cities will also work to send students from both municipalities to visit the theaters and experience firsthand "the feeling, devotion and passion" each city holds for its own.

President Illa trip to Extremadura

The theater agreement was one stop on President Illa's two-day visit to Extremadura, during which he also addressed the region's historical ties to Catalonia.

Illa thanked the people of Extremadura who migrated to Catalonia in the 20th century for helping build the country, telling a crowd in La Zarza, Badajoz, "Thank you very much, Catalonia owes you a lot."

He noted that emigration is often "done out of necessity" and urged people not to forget how migrants were welcomed in Catalonia. 

"Today's Catalonia was created with more than 100,000 people from Extremadura," he said, and called for that same spirit of welcome to be applied to migrants today.

The President also met privately with President of the Junta of Extremadura, María Guardiola, Wednesday, in what the Catalan government described as a "cordial and institutional collaboration" focused on the shared priorities and ties between the two regions.