MUSASHI AROUND THE WORLD: Carthago Nova

Cartagena is a Spanish city and a major naval station located in the Region of Murcia, by the Mediterranean coast, south-eastern Spain.
Cartagena has been inhabited for over two millennia, being founded around 227 BC during the Phoenician conquest as Qart Hadasht. The city lived its heyday during the Roman Empire, when it was known as Carthago Nova (the New Carthage) and Carthago Spartaria, capital of the province of Carthaginensis. It was one of the important cities during the Umayyad invasion of Hispania, under its Arabic name of Qartayannat al-Halfa.

Much of the historical weight of Cartagena in the past goes to its coveted defensive port, one of the most important in the western Mediterranean. Cartagena has been the capital of the Spanish Navy's Maritime Department of the Mediterranean since the arrival of the Spanish Bourbons in the 18th century. As far back as the 16th century it was one of the most important naval ports in Spain, together with Ferrol in the North. It is still an important naval seaport, the main military haven of Spain, and is home to a large naval shipyard.

The confluence of civilizations as well as its strategic harbour, together the rise of the local mining industry is manifested by a unique artistic heritage, with a number of landmarks such as the Roman Theatre, the second largest of the Iberian Peninsula after the one from Mérida, an abundance of Phoenician, Roman, Byzantine and Moorish remains, and a plethora of Art Nouveau buildings, a result of the bourgeoisie from the early 20th century. Cartagena is now established as a major cruiser destination[3] in the Mediterranean and an emerging cultural focus.
Domingo,13 de Febrero de 2011

The Town Hall was built in modernist style with a staircase in its interior of imperial style.You can observe in the first three pictures the Town Hall's state about 10 to 15 years before, when it was still headquarters of the city council

The Roman Theatre of Carthago Nova and Cathedral ruins of Cartagena
The Theater, one of the largest of its type in Spain, was built at the end of the century I a.C, the inauguration maybe coninciding with the presence of Augusto's grandson, Gaius Caesar in Carthago-nova in the year 4 B.C. It had a seating capacity of about 6.000 people.