Of left on the right. Roman arc of Cáparra. Detail of excavations. The excavations which are currently carried out with the Roman arc discover that which in another time it was the town of Cáparra.

The ruins of the Roman city of Cáparra are in the north of the province of Cáceres, in full valleys Ambroz, concretely between the terms of Olive Plasencia and Guijo de Granadilla, in the pasture known as Casablanca. In Cáparra it is easy to find multitude of Roman remainders which emerge on the surface. But of all the elements, most famous is its Roman Arc.

It has abundant inscriptions in a very good state of conservation. Cáparra belonged to the people, called Caparensis. The Plinio author quotes with the people of caparenses like inhabitants of the Roman province of Portugal. But according to another classic author, Ptolemy, Cáparra passed from the Portuguese to the vetones, because it was in extreme cases or the border of these two people. In the traditional text "Route of Antonino" the town of Cáparra is placed as remains Road of the Money with 110 miles of Emérita August.

Apparently the Romans were not the creators of the city, but when they arrived at it there was already an indigenous payment of certain importance. The reason to be placed here and to transform it a city initially was, that a residence or a place of stop in the course of the road was necessary in this zone of the Money, secondly, that its situation was adapted as for the agricultural richness of the valley of Ambroz, third, which Rome needed in certain zones an administrative, tax centre and of monitoring, and places, the situation of defence was good, and was close to the river.

Cáparra paid with the empire a royalty or a military contribution, but exchanges its inhabitants of them were free and had the grounds in property. Cáparra had a surface of 12 ha, although it is not too important, but with Coria and Talavera there was not another between the Cut and the Central System. During year 74 after Christ Cáparra becomes common Roman thanks to a dictation of the Vespasiano emperor. As from this moment the city has an important development, and is at this time of splendour to which celebrates it arc of Cáparra corresponds, whose construction is allotted to an individual: Marcus Fidius Macer, like several inscriptions appeared in the environment and the arc itself. This character was a magistrate three times, prefect, chief of the body of firemen and Dunvir, which was as the president of the common Roman. Cáparra began its fall and depopulation with the invasion Muslim. The little which remained city during the following centuries disappeared with the war from independence, Cáparra then was known like Sells of Cáparra.

THE ARC OF CÁPARRA

It acts of a tetrapylum, which wants to say four doors. It was located just in full Roman roadway of the Way of the Money, and in the centre of the town of Cáparra. This arc caused curiosity between the students already since the XVI century, being single in its type in the Iberians Peninsula. It is of irregular square plant. Its foundations are made large of reimburse pillars with the end. Its structure is made up of base, pillars and archivolt. The capital finishes in a cornice on which one raises the archivolt of which it extracts the safe deposit from edge. The two more important faces of the arc are those which supervise towards the roadway. In the principal frontage, there are pedestal nationals, who in their turn had inscriptions and statues. One can still read in Latin his inscription of the right-hand side, which translated into Castilian, she says: "With Bolosea, girl of Pellius and with fidius, wire of Macrius. Marcus Fidius Macer, in will".

Currently, Cáparra belongs to the Project of integral readjustment of the Inheritance of Extremadura "Aube Argent", whose objective is to recover the historical way of the Way of the Money, which communicated Astorga with Emérita August.

In the environments of Cáparra one placed a Centre of Interpretation on the Roman ruins.