Tour of the Roman Empire of the Crystal

General information

Destination
Cuenca, Spain

Program details

Roman City of Segobriga. This Archaeological site is one of the most important and best preserved Roman remains in Spain. The Roman City of Segobriga was the commercial and economic centre of the Lapis Specularis mining. Lapis Specularis is a variety of gypsum that form crystal sheets and were used as the first window panes in history. The Lapis Specularis became much in demand by the wealthiest families of the empire, and the economic growth allowed the monumentalization of the city. There were only seven Roman cities in Hispania with Theatre, Amphitheatre and Circus, and Segobriga was one of them. The economy of the city collapsed when the technique of manufacturing glass in sheets was developed and demand of the Lapis Specularis ceased.



We will see Segobriga's streets, buildings and temples... This archaeological site is one of the best examples of excavated Roman cities inland the Iberian peninsula, which offers us the possibility to know its incomparable forum, the old Roman theater or going down to the sand of its amphitheatre, with capacity for more than 5,000 people, so that we can feel like authentic gladiators from the 1st Century A.D., as if we were Máximo Décimo himself. But we will also visit its Roman public baths, where those Romans washed themselves up and kept an intense social life; or have a look to the circus where we glimpse what those impressive chariot races that cinema has recalled us could be.



We will visit some of those mines that made Segobriga and its region great. Here we will discover how this crystal was mined from its natural site, how they worked in the mines, and how the miners who worked there lived. Finally we will visit the Mosaics of Noheda, one of the largest of the Roman Empire in the world Roman Mines of Lapis Specularis. The Archaeological Park of Noheda was an importan Roman Villa for the 1st to the 4th centuries. In this is Archaelogical site we'll visit:



- Pars Urbana: Residential part of the Villa. A very important mosaic (231,62 m2) was found here.

- Gran Balneum: Almost 900 m2 of Roman Baths divided into several rooms.

- Pars Rustica: Here we'll find some walls and other structures



Languages

Bilingual guide in English and Spanish