Cartagena

Cartagena's history reaches back to prehistoric times. Archaeological sites across the municipal area, including Las Amoladeras on La Manga and the Iberian settlement at Los Nietos on the Mar Menor, point to human activity long before the city took shape. Phoenician shipwrecks along the coast show that the surrounding mining sierra was already driving intense trade and industry.

The urban settlement may trace its origins to the ancient city of Mastia. The Carthaginians then founded Qart Hadasht here, which became the capital of the Carthaginian kingdom in Hispania. It was from this city that Hannibal set out with his elephants at the start of the Second Punic War, crossing the Alps on his famous campaign into Italy.

The city changed hands repeatedly over the centuries. The Visigoths under King Suintila took it around 622, with Saint Isidore recording its near-total destruction — though the fact that a bishop was still seated here in 675 suggests that account was exaggerated. Muslim forces arrived shortly after the initial invasion of the peninsula, ruling for several centuries during which the city recovered somewhat, gained a mosque and a fortified alcazaba on the hill now known as the Cerro de la Concepción, and was known as Qartayannat al-Halfa.

Christian reconquest came in 1245, when the infante Alfonso took the city with the help of a fleet from Santander under Admiral Ruy García. Cartagena received the Fuero of Córdoba and in 1250 its diocese was restored. The military Order of Santa María de España, created in 1270 for the naval defence of Castile, established its headquarters here. However, when the episcopal seat was moved to Murcia shortly after, the city's growth stalled.

Cartagena was briefly captured by James II of Aragon in 1296 during his campaign for the kingdom of Murcia, but by 1305 it was returned to Castile. In 1464, Henry IV granted the city and its castle to Pedro Fajardo y Quesada as a lordship, a situation that lasted until the Catholic Monarchs reversed it. In 1503, Queen Isabella ordered the city returned to the Crown. Under Charles I and Philip II, Cartagena's role as a military and naval base grew substantially, with its walls strengthened and its importance in the western Mediterranean firmly established.

Cartagena's long succession of occupying civilisations left a remarkable concentration of monuments, many of them visible in the city centre today.

The Roman theatre is the most visited monument in the entire Región de Murcia. Construction began in the late Republican period, and the site now includes the Museo del Teatro Romano, designed by architect Rafael Moneo and opened in July 2008, which documents the theatre's excavation and recovery. Above the theatre stand the ruins of the cathedral of Santa María la Vieja, a late medieval church partially destroyed during the Spanish Civil War.

Elsewhere in the centre, the Roman Forum neighbourhood — a complex of buildings discovered in 1968 — opened a new museum in spring 2021. Visitors can walk a section of the city's main east-west road, see remains of late imperial baths, a collegiate building, a sanctuary dedicated to the goddess Isis, and the curia, which served as the local senate. The Augusteum was the seat of the college of priests of the emperor Augustus.

The Punic wall, built when the city was founded, is one of the very few surviving Carthaginian remains in Europe. The Casa de la Fortuna is a Roman house preserving mosaics and wall paintings. The Castillo de la Concepción — known locally as the castle of the Ducks — now functions as a history interpretation centre, surrounded by the Torres park.

Outside the city, the Torre Ciega is a Roman funerary monument, and the Roman villa at Paturro in Portmán is also open to visitors. The Franciscan monastery of San Ginés de la Jara, in the district of El Beal, is a listed heritage site but currently in poor condition and included on the Red List of endangered heritage.

Military architecture from the 18th century includes the walls of Charles III, the Naval School, the Arsenal — whose gate is the publicly visible part — and the Artillery Park, now home to the Military History Museum. The former Hospital de Marina, today the Campus Muralla del Mar of the Polytechnic University of Cartagena, was among the first major buildings constructed after the city became Spain's principal Mediterranean naval base. The Basílica de la Caridad, built in the 20th century, is dedicated to the city's patron, the Virgin of la Caridad, and features a circular interior dominated by a large dome.