The Wall of Lugo. The only Roman that preserves its entire perimeter

To speak of Lugo is to speak of its Roman Wall, an authentic architectural jewel whose beauty, conservation and history are worth the title of World Heritage Site.
The Wall of Lugo is one of the innumerable walls that were built during the time of the Roman Civilization, but it is the only one whose entire perimeter has reached our days.
If you visit Lugo, do not miss its main monument. Enjoy something unique that will not leave you indifferent.
Visit the Roman Wall of Lugo
The Roman Wall of Lugo was built at the end of the 3rd century, long after the founding of the city by Lucus Augusti, in the year 13 BC
As is to be expected, the construction of the wall had a defensive objective to protect the city in the expansion plan of the Romans through the northwest of Spain.
But it also had the utility of protecting Lucus Augusti from the cold northerly winds that reached the top of the hill where it was built.
And they also had another very important utility at the time. Delimit the jurisdiction and therefore the taxes that were collected in the city by carrying out a control on the people who entered and left.
The Wall of Lugo is almost 2,200 meters long and along it we can find 10 gates, 5 of them original from Roman times and another 5 that were opened in later centuries for reasons of the expansion of the city.
The width of the wall is between 4 and 7 meters, which means that you can now walk along the walkway seeing the city from another perspective and admiring most of the 85 towers that were located along the wall.
In addition, the wall was surrounded by a 20 meter wide moat of which there are still some remains, although little by little it was disappearing as nearby houses were built for the expansion of the city.
The doors of the Wall of Lugo and the walkway
As we have said before, currently the Wall of Lugo has 10 gates, 5 of which are original from Roman times.
The original 5 were located more or less at the 4 cardinal points to be able to access the city from almost any point.
The roads from present-day Astorga and Braga on one side, present-day Betanzos on the other, Iria Flavia to the west and the Cantabrian coast to the north reached them.
Centuries later, starting in 1853, another 5 gates were opened due to the needs of a growing city. All the entrances had a wooden door, which unfortunately no longer exists today.
Stroll along the Adarve of the Wall of Lugo
Nowadays it is possible, and it is one of the best experiences in Lugo, to climb the walkway and walk along it thanks to the stairs that exist at different points of the wall and that had remained hidden until 1962 when they were discovered and recovered.
As a curiosity, these stairs did not reach the ground level, but remained halfway up, making it necessary to use other mobile stairs to gain access.
In this way, if necessary, the uncontrolled ascent to the walkway was avoided. Nowadays, in addition to these stairs it is also possible to go up thanks to a ramp built in the 19th century.
You can find more information about the Roman Wall of Lugo on the official Galicia tourism page.