The Plaza is the cornerstone of the Museum, around which all other buildings are organized.
If we look westward from the footbridge we can see the Cíes Islands, a group formed by three major islands (Monte Agudo or Northern Island, Faro, and San Martiño or Southern Island) and a number of small islets (Agoreira, Penela dos Viños, Garabelos and Ruzo). Since 2002 it is part of the Land and Marine National Park of the Atlantic Islands of Galicia.
One of the most outstanding parts of the Museum can be visited at the Plaza: the Castro da Punta do Muíño is an ancient hill fort whose origins date back to the 8th century before Christ —during the Bronze age—, and was inhabited until the first century BC, during the Roman domination of the region.
The buildings of this settlement are round-shaped structures made of stone with a central hearth, and are situated in close proximity to each other. The hand hatchets exhibited at the Pier’s gallery belong to the original settlement of the Castro, and were used by different human groups on the European Atlantic coastline as the currency for their commercial exchanges.
A cubic structure excavated in the most distant part of the hill fort allows visitors to enjoy the archaeological register, dated in the fourth century BC. The three vertical stones may be part of an Iberian-Punic altar, since pieces of pottery manufactured in Southern Spain were found there. Its dwellers left the Castro at the start of the first century BC, and a number of Roman villages began to be erected around it. Their inhabitants were involved in fish salting activities, and maintained the long-distance link between the city and its surroundings and the sea industry.
Avenida Atlántida 160. 36208 Vigo.
T 986247750
F 986247748
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