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In Alentejo, close to the beautiful town of Marvão, in the heart of Serra de São Mamede Nature Park, we find the ruins of Roman city of Ammaia, in an area of great beauty, attesting its patrimonial grandeur.

Ammaia was founded at the end of the 1^st century a. C. and surviving as an urban unit, for 6 centuries, forming today one of the most significant examples of Roman civilization in northern Alentejo. Archaeological excavations that began in 1995 discovered an area of 3,000 m², but the original area of the city may reach 25 ha. Since then, the University of Évora has been responsible for scientific coordination of archaeological works. As a result of this intervention, it is now possible to observe in the ruins of Ammaia an important monumental complex that includes the Forum, the main center of political, economic, social and religious life, as well as a thermal complex with several associated structures.

It is assumed that during the medieval era, probably between the fifth and ninth centuries, the city suffered the effects of a cataclysm that buried the lower part, allowing its preservation, untouched, to the present day.

The Museum has a permanent exhibition with elements of Roman material culture: epigraphy; Ammaia day-to-day life; economic activities; and architecture. There is also a Conservation and Restoration laboratory.

To safeguard this heritage, in 1997 was legally constituted the City of Ammaia Foundation, which owns the land where a large part of the area that the ruins occupy is located.