Explore Cádiz

The Museum of Cádiz on the Plaza de Mina was formed in 1970 by merging the provincial fine arts and archaeology museums. The ground floor covers archaeology, including Phoenician sarcophagi found in the city; the first floor shows paintings, among them works by Zurbarán from the Charterhouse of Jerez; the second floor keeps the Tía Norica puppets.

The Monument to the Constitution of 1812 stands in the Plaza de España and marks the first Spanish constitution, drafted by the Cortes of Cádiz. Designed by Modesto López Otero with sculpture by Aniceto Marinas, it was commissioned in 1912 and finished in 1929: a stone hemicycle with an empty presidential chair, bronze figures for war and peace, and a central pillar.

The Gran Teatro Falla is the main theatre of Cádiz, a red-brick Neo-Mudéjar building on the Plaza Fragela begun in 1884 to plans by Adolfo Morales de los Ríos and completed in 1905. Renamed in 1926 after the composer Manuel de Falla, it hosts plays and concerts and, every February, the official competition of the Cádiz Carnival groups.

Parque Genovés is a historic garden on the seafront of Cádiz, laid out in the mid-18th century and named after mayor Eduardo José Genovés, who remodelled it. A central avenue runs between clipped cypresses and palms. The park has more than 150 species of trees and shrubs, an artificial waterfall with a grotto, and statues of Celestino Mutis and Manuel de Falla.

Cádiz Cathedral, the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, was built between 1722 and 1838 to a design first drawn by Vicente Acero, so its baroque plan ends in neoclassical forms. It stands above the sea on the Campo del Sur. The crypt holds the tombs of Manuel de Falla and José María Pemán, and visitors can climb the Clock Tower.

The Roman Theatre of Cádiz, the Theatrum Balbi, was built in the 1st century BC and rediscovered in 1980 in the El Pópulo quarter. Its seating measured about 118 metres across and held around 10,000 people. A visitor centre on Calle Mesón explains the site with models and finds, and a vaulted gallery under the seating leads out to part of the excavated tiers.

La Caleta is the small beach of the old town of Cádiz, in a sheltered cove between the Castle of San Sebastián and the Castle of Santa Catalina. Phoenician and Roman ships anchored in the cove, which served as a natural harbour. Over the sand stands the white Balneario de la Palma, a bathing pavilion opened in 1926, and fishing boats moor in the bay.

The Castle of Santa Catalina is a star-shaped fortress on La Caleta, ordered by Philip II in 1597 after the Anglo-Dutch raid and designed by the engineer Cristóbal de Rojas. Its pointed bastions face the sea, and a chapel of 1693 stands on the parade ground. From 1769 it served as a military prison; today it holds exhibition rooms, craft workshops and summer concerts.

The Castle of San Sebastián is a fortress on a small island at the western end of La Caleta, joined to the city by a causeway built in 1860. The castle was begun in 1706; inside stands an iron lighthouse from 1908, raised on the base of an older watchtower. Exhibitions are held in the casemates, and the walk out gives views back over the old town.