The archaeological site of Chãos Salgados/Old Castle is traditionally associated with the Latin toponym of Miróbriga. This site relates to a Roman city located on a hill, about 12km away from the Atlantic Ocean. The archaeological findings of this site have been known since the 16th century. The archaeological works allowed the identification of structural and artefactual traces of a Roman city, with a long diachronic occupation, chronologically framed between the 1st-century B.C and the 5th/6th centuries AD, that overlapped a previous indigenous settlement (6th/5th to 1st-century BC). In the tallest area of the hill, where the forum of the Roman city was built, several structures and materials were identified that allowed documenting the presence of an Iron Age settlement on this hill, which was later Romanized. The Roman city, which sought to adapt the conditions of its geographical location to the urban models in effect, is organized in two main nuclei: the first (to the north) composed by the forum, with a centralized temple and several public buildings (basilica, curia, temples¿), two public thermal compounds, an extensive housing area, with scattered structures and the tabernae area, located to the south and west of the forum; and the second nucleus (to the south), located at about 700m, which corresponds to the circus (horse racing building, generally referred to as a hippodrome). The Miróbriga forum is located on the highest platform of the hill, presenting a small space with a squared plaza (22,08m x 25,50m), paved by limestone plates and surrounded by porticos, with the exception of the south west side. The main temple was built in the most prominent area of this plaza and is well framed in the landscape, which was probably consecrated to the imperial cult and constitutes one of the major symbols of Miróbriga. The thermal area is divided into two compounds, the East Baths (420m2 of total area), probably built in the late 1st-century AD, and the West Baths (with an area of about 693m2) built during the 2nd-century AD. Several compartments are visible in these thermal compounds (dressing and ludic rooms, cold bathing areas - frigidarium - and heated baths - caldarium and tepidarium), tanks, furnaces and plumbing systems. A bridge was identified in the vicinity of these structures that would allow the communication between the main urban nucleus and the circus, which would have been built during the 2nd-century AD. The circus, built during the 2nd-century AD, presents a rectangular blueprint, with a round arch to the north and a segmented arch to the south, divided in the middle by the spina, with a metae in each end and a triumphal door on the south side. The abandonment of this Roman city would have occurred gradually between the end of the 5th century and the beginning of the 6th century AD.

This archaeological site has an interpretive centre with reception and exhibition areas as well as a shop. The site integrates the "Itinerários Arqueológicos do Alentejo e Algarve".

Entrance with admission ticket

Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday 9.00 - 12.30 14.00 - 17.30 Sundays 9.00 - 12.00 14.00 - 17.30 Closed: Mondays, January 1st, Easter (Sunday), May 1st, December 25th and municipal holiday.

Street View