Field Trip #1: Museu d’Història de la Ciutat
Roman Monumental Influence
Something I thought was very staggering about the History Museum was realizing how large of an influence the Romans had on Barcelona’s architecture. These Roman ruins illustrate some of their best innovations and engineering, consisting of things like a winery, public bath, and plumbing systems. The sewerage system is particularly interesting and very similar to how it works for Barcelona people today, as there is isolation of plumbing water that runs in streams seperate from drinking water. Since there is no worry for invaders like back in Roman times, towers are not in present day Catalan culture architecture. Lastly, there is no such thing as public baths in the Catalan culture is, it is now private bathing in the comfort of your own home. This is something that used to be valued as a very social time for Romans back in the day.
Roman Religious artifacts
At the start of the Roman Empire, the people of Spain believed in polytheism, then shifted over to Monotheism when the Romans conquered and forced everyone to change worship. This took very long to instill in the spanish culture, and some people would still practice polytheism secretly. The pictures below all represent artifacts the experienced this cultural change. Christianty led them to believe in one god and saints, so this style was portrayed through artifacts versus Roman gods and goddesses.
Roman Catalan Architecture
Many Catalan culture buildings stem from Roman influence, as you can also very much observe with the rest of the world. Some standout characteristics inclue pillars, arcs, inverted roofs, columns, stained glass designs, and colorful paint. As you can see below, many of the pictures have these exact characterists. For example, the Arco de Triunfo de Barcelona is a giant, ornate arc with a large roman influence and the way the structure is built.
Domestic objects
Tic Tac toe game
Pottery glasses/pots
Ipad
Habits:
Wine: Inapropriate to be drunk; made wine stomping with their feet for one method
Washed clothes with lime juice and urine
Organizing , cleaning, and maintaining fish
The most surprising facts to me for objects was the tic tac toe game because I find it so sad that such a boring game was one of their best forms of entertainment. The very astounding fact with habits was the fact that they cleaned with urine and lime, even though it is a very Smart first idea with using very acidic fluids.
Roman Wine Influence
Romans brought wine influence to the catalán culture very quickly as it is a integral part to their identity. They produced wine in two methods—one requiring a lot of manual labor with stomping on the grapes to juice them. Below is the Roman remains of a winery. Wine today is almost expected at dinner, and Spain produces better White wine than red wine. Wine also plays a huge role in the christian religion as it is often referred to as “the blood of christ”. Two popular brands are Faustino and El Coto de Rioja.