Exposiciones temporales

TIPASA. An archaeological look at the Algerian coast

• 19/02/2025 - 26/05/2025
• 294 Views

The Tipasa exhibition. An archaeological look at the coast of Algiers brings together more than 20 photographs that convey the research and documentation work of the TIPASA project, led by the Institute of History of the Higher Council for Scientific Research, led by Alejandro Quevedo, and the Morsli Abdellah University Centre of Tipaza.

Algeria has an exceptional cultural heritage. Among the sites on its coast is the Punic, Roman and Byzantine city of Tipasa, located 70 km west of Algiers under the modern Tipaza. In 1982, it was declared a World Heritage Site along with the Mauritanian royal mausoleum, an immense funerary monument dating back 2,000 years. However, its surroundings have hardly been explored scientifically and are currently at serious risk of disappearing. This is due, on the one hand, to marine erosion, which seriously affects ancient structures on the coastline, and on the other, to uncontrolled urban growth that has tripled the built-up area in the last decade. At the same time, the region shares a close historical legacy with Spain that is very little known.

The TIPASA Project, led by the Institute of History of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (Principal Investigator Alejandro Quevedo) and the Centre Universitaire Morsli Abdellah de Tipaza, was created with the aim of reversing this situation. The project is being developed in the area between the two UNESCO World Heritage monuments, combining the most recent satellite mapping with the collection of ancient material, mainly ceramics. Chronologically, the period between the Punic and Byzantine eras (6th century BC – 6th century AD) is analysed.

To mark the 40th anniversary of Tipasa's declaration as a World Heritage Site, an exhibition was organised with images by the team's documentary maker, the archaeological photography specialist Javier Rodríguez Pandozi. After its passage through the Cervantes Institutes of Algiers and Oran and the CSIC History Institute in Madrid, the initiative is being presented for the first time in Cartagena, a city with strong heritage links with Tipasa, offering the public the chance to rediscover our common past through a new perspective.

The TIPASA Project is funded by the Palarq Foundation (2020-present) and the Ministry of Culture of the Government of Spain (2021 campaign). Since 2023, the project's actions have been framed within the research lines of the Ramón y Cajal de A. Quevedo contract (RYC2022-037150-I) Hispania and central Maghreb: revealing connectivities through Roman Material Culture funded by MCIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the ESF+; and of the National R&D&I Project TRAPHIC (PID2022-141425NA-I00): Territory, Architecture and Pottery Production: exploring relationships between Hispania and Mauretania Caesariensis, funded by MCIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by FEDER, EU.

Alejandro Quevedo is a Ramón y Cajal researcher at the Institute of History of the Spanish National Research Council. He holds a PhD in Archaeology from the University of Murcia and is a specialist in Roman material culture. He has five years of experience in centres of excellence in France, Italy and the United States and has also been a professor of Archaeology at the Complutense University of Madrid.

Author of a hundred publications, his research focuses on the study of the economy of the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula and trade with North Africa in antiquity, with special attention to the territory of Algeria. In this country he has been leading the TIPASA Project for five years, aimed at studying and safeguarding the archaeological heritage of one of the most emblematic Punic-Roman cities of the Maghreb. In Spain he is co-director of the research project on the island of Fraile, Águilas (Murcia).

Temporary Exhibition Hall of the Cartagena Roman Theatre Museum
From February 20 to May 26, 2025
Cartagena Roman Theatre Museum
Plaza del Ayuntamiento, 9
30201 Cartagena, Murcia (Spain)
Telephone: (+34) 968 504 802
www.teatroromanocartagena.org

Cartagena Roman Theatre Foundation:
Cartagena City Council
Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia
Caja Murcia Foundation
Collaborator
Iberdrola Foundation