Few discoveries in Barcelona are as startling as turning into a medieval courtyard in the Gothic Quarter and finding yourself face to face with four enormous Roman columns, standing 9 metres tall, intact and in situ since the 1st century BCE. The Temple d’August is one of the city’s most atmospheric hidden treasures — and entry is free.
The Temple of the Imperial Cult
Built between the 1st century BCE and the 1st century CE, the temple was dedicated to the cult of Emperor Augustus and stood at the centre of the Roman forum of Barcino. It was a hexastyle temple (six columns across the front) built on a podium — the standard form for Roman imperial cult temples across the Empire.
The four surviving columns — Corinthian in style, with elaborately carved capitals — are part of the temple’s side colonnade. They survive because the medieval city literally built around and over them, preserving them inside what became a succession of private buildings. The current courtyard, part of the Centre Excursionista de Catalunya, allows visitors to see the columns in the context of the medieval structure that protected them.
The Experience
The effect of standing in front of these columns in their medieval courtyard setting is quietly extraordinary. The contrast of scales — the Roman columns towering above, the narrow Gothic courtyard around them, the medieval arches framing the view — creates a layered sense of historical time that is hard to find anywhere else.
How to Visit
The temple is accessed via Carrer del Paradís, 10, through the doorway of the Centre Excursionista de Catalunya. Free entry; open daily from 10am. The nearest metro is Jaume I (L4). Most visitors spend around 15–20 minutes here, though it pairs well with the nearby Cathedral and MUHBA.