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History

Almost 3,000 years of history

From Tartessos in the seventh century BC to the Romantic Seville of Carmen.

Just observing the heritage in the streets and in the towns is enough to form an idea of the importance down the ages of the capital and province of Seville. Since the times when the city of Italica was one of the main centres of production in the Roman province of Hispania Baetica to the Seville of the Golden Age, when it became the “Great Babylon of Spain” after the discovery of America, by way of the Muslim Isbilia, a small, independent taifa kingdom, this region has always enjoyed great prestige, thanks to a unique climate, a privileged environment and the singular personality of its people.

Hispalis

Roman Seville

The Roman city of Italica, located on the Lower Guadalquivir, between Seville (Hispalis) and Alcalá del Río (Ilipa), very close to the routes that communicated with the mining zones in the Sierra Norte mountains of Seville and in Huelva, played a very important role in both politico-military and economic terms during the early Roman Empire, as evidenced by the growth of the city, which eventually covered an area of some 52 hectares.

Website of the Italica archaeological site

Archaeological Museum

Vestiges of greatness

The Seville Provincial Archaeological Museum was established under a Decree of 1867 on Archaeological Museums, then called Museums of Antiquity. The involvement of the Museums Council of Seville was decisive in the establishment of this Museum. The founding collection was made up of the pieces discovered in excavations at Italica, collected in around 1780 by Francisco de Bruna in the entrance gallery of the Real Alcazar.