Temple of Diana Spain

Legendary

Made of granite, the temple was built in a classic Roman style.

Photo by Kent Wang

The Temple of Diana was never a temple to Diana. A local historian gave it that name in the 17th century, and the mistake stuck.

It was really a temple to the Roman emperor and his family, who were worshipped as gods. Historians call this the imperial cult.

The temple stands in Mérida, in western Spain. The Romans founded the city in 25 BC as Emerita Augusta and made it the capital of a province called Lusitania.

The temple was built around 2,000 years ago, in the 1st century AD. It sat in the city's main public square, the forum, right where the two biggest streets crossed.

It was built on a tall stone platform called a podium, with six columns across the front and more running down each side. The columns are made of local granite and stand about 8 meters tall.

The granite probably wasn't meant to show. It was likely covered with plaster or marble to make it look even grander.

Two pools sat in front of the temple, and a covered walkway surrounded it. It would have been one of the most important buildings in the whole city.

After the Roman Empire fell, the temple slowly fell apart. Much of it might have disappeared, except for one wealthy man.

In the 16th century, the Count of los Corbos decided to build his house right inside the ruins. He built his new palace in the Renaissance style and used the old Roman columns as part of the walls.

It sounds like vandalism, but it saved the temple. The palace kept the columns standing, and it stayed a private home until the 1970s.

A long restoration finished in 2011. Today, the palace and the temple stand together, one built into the other.

Look for the places where the palace walls wrap around the Roman columns. Step inside the small visitor center to learn how the temple was found and restored. Come back after dark, when the columns are lit up and cafés fill the square around them.