Cap de Setmana Ibèric 2026
On 3 and 4 October 2026, Ullastret joins the 26th Cap de Setmana Ibèric, dedicated this year to Iberian architecture and urban planning. Saturday’s programme includes a family workshop and guided visits exploring the city’s streets, houses and defensive structures.
On Sunday, admission to the archaeological site and museum is free from 10:00–18:00. Guided activities take place throughout the weekend and advance booking is recommended. View the programme.
Who were the Iberians?
We are travelling all the way back to ancient times, to when Iberians populated this part of the peninsula that still bears their name. The Iberians were an ancient people indigenous to the eastern part of what is Spain today, in lands that stretched from eastern Andalucía and Murcia in the southeast, all the way up the Mediterranean coast, including the hinterland, through the Empordà region of Catalunya, and even beyond into parts of the Languedoc-Roussillon region of southern France.
Although the Iberian Peninsula had already been inhabited by anatomically modern humans for over 40,000 years, Iberians began to develop as a culture around the 6th century BCE. They were not a unified people but rather a collection of different tribes who shared cultural and linguistic characteristics, who traded, intermarried and sometimes fought each other.
Of course, they didn’t call themselves ‘Iberians’ either; it was the Greeks, and later the Romans, who gave the name ‘Iberia’ to the peninsula that is today home to Spain and Portugal, and ‘Iberians’ to its people, and the name stuck. Although the Romans often used the term ‘Iberian’ to refer to all the peoples that lived here, in fact, most of the west, centre, and north of the peninsula was home to Celtic tribes, as well as Aquitanian tribes in the north whose language evolved to become the Basque language still spoken today.
The Iberian language remains only partly understood. Its script can be read, but the language itself has not been fully deciphered, and proposed links with Basque remain debated. As Roman rule spread, Latin gradually replaced Iberian and became the basis of the Romance languages later spoken across much of the peninsula.
The Indigetes of the Empordà
Just outside today’s medieval village of Ullastret lie the remains of the largest Iberian city discovered in Catalunya. It was the principal city of the Indigetes, an Iberian people whose territory covered much of what is now north-eastern Catalunya.
Other Iberian settlements can still be found across the region, including the settlement at Castell, near Palamós. Together, these sites reveal a network of communities connected by trade, agriculture and a shared culture.
The Iberian way of life developed from its primitive origins to become a culture in its own right mainly due to contact with peoples of the eastern Mediterranean, specifically the Phoenicians/Carthaginians and Greeks, who travelled all over the Mediterranean and formed settlements whose main purpose was originally trade and exchange rather than conquest.
Just up the road from Ullastret, on the outskirts of L’Escala, lie the remains of the Greek trading settlement of Emporion. The Indigetes traded extensively with its Greek inhabitants, and archaeological discoveries at Ullastret reveal strong Mediterranean influences. The Greek name Emporion survives in modern Empúries and also gave its name to the Empordà.
The ancient city of Indika
At its height during the fourth and third centuries BCE, Ullastret had more than 6,000 inhabitants. Archaeologists generally identify it with Indika, the principal city of the Indigetes, although its ancient name cannot be established with complete certainty.
The city occupied a strategic position overlooking the surrounding countryside and a large navigable lake. The urban complex consisted of two settlements: Puig de Sant Andreu, which can be visited today, and Illa d’en Reixac, about 300 metres away.
The lake was drained during the second half of the nineteenth century to create agricultural land. From Puig de Sant Andreu, the flat landscape of the former lake is still clearly visible.
Puig de Sant Andreu was protected by one of Catalunya’s largest and oldest Iberian fortifications, reinforced with six circular towers. The surviving streets, houses, silos and cisterns reveal a carefully planned urban centre shaped partly by contact with the nearby Greek settlements of Emporion and Rhode.
Archaeologists have identified the remains of three temples at Ullastret, along with examples of Iberian writing. Although parts of the script can be read, the language itself has never been fully deciphered, leaving many aspects of Iberian beliefs and daily life open to interpretation.
A city built to impress
As the capital of the Indigetes, Indika was carefully organised. Its main and secondary streets connected houses, workshops, storage silos, water cisterns and communal spaces, while its substantial fortifications protected the settlement.
The walls did more than provide security. Their scale also expressed authority and status to anyone approaching the city. Rather than revealing how frequently Ullastret was attacked, the archaeological remains show that defence, organisation and display were all central to its design.
Rome arrives
The balance of power changed dramatically during the Second Punic War. In 218 BCE, Roman forces landed at Emporion, beginning a lasting Roman military presence in north-eastern Iberia. Communities across the peninsula supported or resisted Rome and Carthage as alliances and local circumstances changed.
For the Indigetes, the proximity of Emporion placed their territory close to Roman military operations. By the end of the war, Rome had established control over the region, beginning a much longer process of conquest and Romanisation.
From conquest to Romanisation
The transition was not peaceful. In 195 BCE, Roman forces led by Marcus Porcius Cato crushed a major uprising among the peoples of north-eastern Iberia. Around this period, the city at Ullastret was abandoned.
Its inhabitants did not simply disappear. Over successive generations, local communities became part of a new Roman political, economic and cultural system. The abandoned streets of Ullastret remained behind as evidence of the sophisticated Iberian city that had existed before Roman rule.
Visiting Ullastret
The archaeological complex of Ullastret consists of the settlements of Puig de Sant Andreu and Illa d’en Reixac, together with the Puig de Serra necropolis. Only Puig de Sant Andreu can currently be visited. Its streets, houses, temples, cisterns, silos and fortifications offer an unusually detailed view of life in an Iberian city.
The site is open from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00–20:00 between June and September and from 10:00–18:00 between October and May. Last admission is 30 minutes before closing. It is normally closed on Mondays and on 1 and 6 January and 25 and 26 December.
Standard admission is €7, with a reduced rate of €5. Admission is free for visitors under 16, unemployed visitors and on the first Sunday of every month, as well as on several official open days during the year.
A temporary visitor route is currently in place following a landslide affecting part of the ancient wall. Reduced admission prices apply while this route remains in use, and the audio guide is temporarily unavailable. Check the official MAC Ullastret website before visiting for the latest information.
Free parking is available beside the site. Most of the visit takes place outdoors, so comfortable footwear, water and sun protection are advisable.
Reconstructing Indika
The museum also includes an immersive 3D audiovisual reconstruction of Indika. Rather than using individual virtual-reality headsets, the experience surrounds visitors with projected images that recreate the city, its buildings and the landscape that once surrounded it.
An online version of the reconstruction can also be explored through the Patrimoni Cultural website.
Ruta dels Indiketes
The Ruta dels Indiketes offers another way to explore the territory once inhabited by the Indigetes. This 476-kilometre circular route crosses both the Alt and Baix Empordà and can be completed on foot or by bicycle. It is self-guided and can be started in either direction from any point along the route.
For walkers, the official itinerary proposes 22 stages of approximately 20–30 kilometres. Participants who record at least 100 kilometres on foot or 200 kilometres by bicycle can apply for an Indiketa diploma. Maps, stages and current practical information are available on the official Ruta dels Indiketes website.
Ullastret through the centuries
The archaeological site lies only a few minutes from the medieval village of Ullastret. Visit both and the landscape begins to read like a timeline: an Iberian capital, a walled medieval village and the Empordà countryside connecting them.
For more archaeological sites and museums across Catalunya, visit the official Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya website.