Citadel in Roses (Girona)
A walk around the Citadel is essential for anyone visiting Roses. Declared a historical-artistic complex in 1961, the Citadel contains vestiges of various periods and occupations. The military fortification, with its monumental Sea Gate, is a Renaissance-style enclosure of 131.480 m2 built in 1543. Its interior constitutes an important archaeological site, containing the remains of the Greek town of Rhode, founded in 776 BC by traders from the island of Rhodes; the Hellenistic district, which enjoyed its period of greatest prosperity in the 4th and 3rd C. BC; the Roman villa, dated between the 2nd C. BC and 6th C. AD; the Lombard Romanesque monastery of Santa Maria, from the 11th C.; and discoveries from the 19th C.