Mèdol QuarryLa Mèdol Quarry was one of the local quarries from the Roman period that supplied the city of Tarraco, and one of the most spectacular due to its size and conservation.
On May 12, 2025, the Mèdol Quarry was donated to the Catalan Agency for Cultural Heritage by the company Abertis. Since then, it has been one of the spaces managed by the MNAT.
The Mèdol quarry was one of several quarries around Tarraco, many of them at the foot of the Via Augusta. The Mèdol quarry was exploited at least since the 1st century BC and it is estimated that 150,000 cubic meters of stone were extracted from it. The space offers very valuable information for studying the stone extraction techniques of the Roman era, in addition to other points of archaeological interest, such as niches or chapels of divinities.
The so-called Mèdol stone is the most used in the construction of Tarraco, and is still very visible in the physiognomy of the city due to its characteristic yellowish color. It is a Miocene lumaquel·a that was very easy to work. It was used in the construction of monuments such as the Tarraco wall, the provincial forum or the amphitheater.
The Romans who exploited the Mèdol quarry decided to leave a needle in the center of the pit as a testament to the extracted stone. This needle is currently twenty meters high and has become one of the symbols of both the city of Tarragona and its Roman legacy. In addition, half-extracted blocks have been documented at its base.
The Mèdol Monolithe is an almost unique example, since very few similar structures have been found throughout the Roman Empire. In addition, the Clot del Mèdol offers many more points of interest, such as the access ramp or the extraction front, the first point where stone extraction began. This space is currently closed to the public, but several studies have already been commissioned to try to reopen it, even if only in a limited way, before the end of this year.
In addition to the ramp, it is very possible that cranes anchored to the edge of the faces were also used to transport the blocks to the outside of Clot. There, they were first roughed before being taken to the city of Tarraco.
The special configuration of the Clot, the result of centuries of quarry exploitation, has also generated a microclimate in the space due to the depth, humidity and shade that is recorded there. As a result, the space has a high botanical interest due to the dimensions of some typical Mediterranean specimens (such as mastics, olive trees and the aladern), as well as the presence of two species with a special protection regime: the blood snail and the margallo.
As for the fauna, the pit is inhabited by a unique fauna, such as the goshawk, the tudó, the glass owl, bats, the common dragonfly and the pink dragonfly.
