Panel 3 - Memory retrieval
In this part of the exhibition we will learn more about the discovery of Reccopolis and the beginnings of the excavations at the site and their development during the twentieth century. We will also delve into the importance of archaeology for the knowledge of the past and the transformation of the medieval territory.
Below you can find more information by following the buttons on the panel.
1. Start of excavations
The discovery of Reccopolis dates back to 1893, when the historian Juan Catalina García linked it to the existing ruins on the hill of La Oliva, near Zorita de los Canes. The first excavations, carried out by Juan Cabré in 1945 and 1946, confirmed this location and uncovered part of a large palatine complex, consisting of a church and a large building. Among the findings, a set of sculptural pieces – chancels, capitals, shafts, cymatiums, and openwork crosses – and a treasure of gold coins discovered in the church’s baptistery, now exhibited in the National Archaeological Museum, stand out.
2. End of the 20th century in Reccopolis
In the 1970s and 1980s, the Complutense and Autonomous Universities of Madrid, the Central University of Barcelona, the University of Alcalá de Henares, the Museum of Guadalajara, and the German Archaeological Institute spearheaded the investigation of Reccopolis. Excavations and studies commenced in the areas surrounding the palace and the city walls, with work continuing within the palace itself. In the mid-1990s, the current systematic research project began, enabling a comprehensive understanding of Reccopolis’s diverse urban spaces – the palatial areas, commercial and artisanal districts, residential complexes, and fortifications – as well as their transformation throughout the city’s history.
3. Enjoying The Past
The growing social demand to know our past drives the development of initiatives aimed at promoting society’s enjoyment of its historical heritage. Archaeology thus expands its social function and develops informative projects aimed at increasing knowledge. Archaeological Parks are created as instruments of cultural communication, education, and public enjoyment. Their objective is to become living, dynamic institutions of cultural diffusion at the service of all and utilized by the community as a whole.
4. The Transformations of a Medieval Territory
The archaeological park is conceived as a historical landscape encompassing the city of Reccopolis, the castle of Zorita de los Canes, the aqueduct and quarries from the Visigothic era, the medieval road, and the irrigation ditches and mills of “Los Palacios” (Albalate de Zorita). This natural environment, of high ecological value, has not undergone significant transformations since medieval times. It thus illustrates the ways of life of the Visigothic, Andalusian, and feudal societies that inhabited, worked, and transformed this territory.
