The Republican journal., 1900-05-17

dWartng by its sweep of prodigious
blocks and modern buildings that sur
| round it. Majestic even in it's naked
| simplicity, it must have been magnit-
cent when covered with costly marbles
adorned with has-reliefs and surmount-
ed by colossal statue of the Emperor.
The Roman Forum. of which only the
area and some broken shafts remain
may be seen near the modern convent
OF Descalzos. Below it ran the Via
| Plata 4" Silver Way"l-the old Roman
road TO Salamanca. The Roman Am
| phltheatrt is enterely ruined. only its
outline and Il few seats being traceable:
| but the Theatre, called by the present
inhabtents Los >iete Sillas. The Seven
Seats from the seven divisions of it's
| benches - retains an unbroken semi
| circle, and its vomitoria. or passages
| for entrance and exit. running beneath
the seats are yet perfect.
| Most picturesque and imposing of all
| the Roman remains in Merida is the
| Aqueduct stretching across the barren
country from the railway station 1t is
formed Of immense granite blocks. with
| narrow, horizontal courses of brick
| IinltN-seven of It's piers remain some
of them ninety feet high and arched in
| three tiers. each pier crowned with
Storll nest. Farther to the east. near
the ugly spanish aqueduct which eros
seS the AbarragaS river, the ancient
| Alba regia are several broken shafts
OF another Roman aqueduct. The Cir
Gus MaXmus. ina great hollow near the
Madrid road, is We'll preserved. Its di-
mansions are 1870 by $40 feet The
outer wallis are of enormous thickness
and many of the original seats for spec
/ tators remain. Then there is the NIGH
| tN reservoir I'll l.azo de Proserpina.
seven miles north of Merida The
granite wall which dams up the water
is gigantic, with staircaScs leading down
into the huge tank. Another reservoir,
six miles III the opposite direction. is
called Alburea de Conalvo. 1t is much
| Nllldliti lIl'lil lilt NlIt dDtNt IiitlllIOltu.
! but the arrangement of its steps in
regular rows, incline antiqUarians to
| the belief that Naumachiae We're pre-
| formed here.
| Besides all these stupenduous works
of its founders, Merida abounds i'll
| other interesting relics-houses and
palaces entirely composed of SCULPTURE
ed fragments. exhibiting in their mutt
lated and discolored ornamentati0n
| the inimitable traces of the Roman
| chisel: gates OF stnpenduous dimen-
/ Sions; highways stretching like the
roads of the Campagna, far over plain
and mountains: villas. whose alabaster
fountains and mosaic pavements re
veal the pomp and luxury of their early
owners temples whose shadoWv aisleS
and venerable pillars have been conse-
Grated to the rites of four antagOnistic
religions-all ghostly souvenirs of the
mighty power now vanished from the
earth. You may visit the half Roman.
half Moorish palace which formerly be-
longed to the Duke de la Roca, a noted
diplomat of the reign of Philip ". 1t
is a perfect museum of architectural
varieties Corinthian, Roman, Gothic,
Ionic, Moorish and modern Its en-
trance doorway is beautiful specimen
of Gothic art, but its Roman portion
has been degraded into a stable. In an
| of pr obScu,p Stapat iS tho onca c,nar1,
palace of the Condo de los Corvos, with
its colonades of tuted granite and
graceful Corinthian capitals The
| building was constructed entirely out of
the remains of an ancient temple ded
Gated to Diana.
Then there is the church of Saint Eu-
laIia, said to have been built in the
/ fourth century. 1t has a fine Roman
date at the end of the aisles, with many
singular capitals buried in whitewash
In front of the church stands Ell Horu-
ito, the little oven," in which--so
child martyr was baked. 1t was con-
verified into a chapel in 1912, and is most
! interesting with it's Roman decorations
the pillar of Saint Eulalia being made
up of ancient capitals and scraps of
heather affairs, piled one above another.
Merida's AlcaZar, built by the Moors
about the year s33, is in excellent pres
ervation. The old church of Santa
Maria, with it's rich Picturesque arch,
is well worth visit; and so is the pro-
vincial museum, the Vega de Guadiana,
the 10th century Plaza Mayor, and
many other places which keep the trav-