The soaring columns here are one of Mérida's most dramatic, incongruous sights, surrounded as they are by the buildings of a modern Spanish city. Inaccurately named, for it's now known to have been dedicated to the Imperial cult, this 1st-century-BCE temple stood in the municipal forum, where the city government was based. Parts of the temple were later incorporated into a 16th-century mansion built within it; there's a small interpretation centre (free entry, but with variable hours) in the mansion.

　　The forum's restored Pórtico del Foro is 100m northeast up Calle de Sagasta.