ICAC is a public Classical Archaeology research centre set up by the Catalan Autonomous Government and the Rovira i Virgili University, with the participation of the Catalan Interuniversity Council. Its objectives are research, advanced teaching and dissemination in the field of classical culture and civilisations.
In order to carry out its task, the institute collaborates with and uses the synergies of the Catalan universities and institutions working in the same field, with the aim of becoming a reference point for the international scientific community in the subject. In its role as a research centre it has established research lines and programmes and has taken on research personnel.
Its area of expertise is Classical Archaeology in the widest sense, both from a geographical perspective (the Mediterranean Arc and the area in which the classical cultures developed) and a chronological perspective (embracing the Greek and Roman civilisations and other peoples directly related to them).
The study of Classical Archaeology has a long tradition in Catalonia. In recent years it has gained importance with the increasing awareness in society of the need to protect our archaeological heritage and the application of new legislation on cultural heritage, which has made scientific research on numerous archaeological sites both possible and necessary.
Catalonia has a notable number of archaeological remains from the antiquity, due largely to the important role it played in the Greek colonisation and in Rome's political and cultural expansion to the west, and also due to the cultural influence of these processes on the indigenous peoples. Logically, this archaeological wealth requires a suitable development of the tasks of research that are essential for its study, interpretation and cultural exploitation
The Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology (ICAC) has formed a consortium consisting of the Department of Universities, Research and the Information Society (DURSI) of the Catalan Autonomous Government and the Rovira i Virgili University. Its statutes were published in the Official Bulletin of the Catalan Autonomous Government number 3.143 on 19 May 2000. The Institute is a public legal entity of an institutional character and has its own legal status for carrying out its objectives.
In accordance with the provisions of the III Catalan Research Plan (2001-2004), the ICAC is an officially approved research centre. The objective of the creation of a network of authorised Catalan Autonomous Government research centres is to promote research in areas of particular interest, in order for them to form part of the European networks that will be generated within the framework of the European Research Area.
The Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology headquarters is in a building ceded by the Rovira i Virgili University and the Tarragona City Council to the city's University Campus. The building (formerly the Forum Market, in the Plaça del Rovellat) has been refurbished to house the facilities necessary for the Institute's work. In this premises of more than 1,000 square metres the Institute has the space it needs to undertake its task. Among other facilities, it has offices for research personnel and administrative staff, a documentation centre, rooms for grant holders, workshops and laboratories with the necessary equipment to carry out the research tasks, seminaries, a conference room and storage rooms.
The importance and scope of Tarragona's archaeological heritage, resting as it does on the ruins of ancient Tarraco , the magnificent capital of Hispania Citerior (recently named a UNESCO World Heritage Site), offers the optimum setting in which to develop the Institute. The monumental archaeological remains preserved in situ , the numerous, important archaeological finds deposited in its centennial museum, with many items that have in addition a high artistic value, and the potential archaeological sites still to be explored, provide it with the conditions to become an extraordinary "laboratory" for archaeological research.
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