| National Museum of Roman Art | |
| Native Name: | Museo Nacional de Arte Romano |
| Native Name Lang: | es |
| Mapframe-Zoom: | 15 |
| Former Name: | Museo Arqueológico de Mérida |
| Location: | Mérida, Spain |
| Type: | Archaeology museum |
| Collections: | Roman art |
| Collection Size: | 37,000 |
| Visitors: | 239,798 (2017) |
| Director: | Trinidad Nogales Basarrate |
| Architect: | Rafael Moneo |
| Owner: | General State Administration |
The National Museum of Roman Art (Spanish; Castilian: Museo Nacional de Arte Romano; MNAR) is an archaeology museum in Mérida, Spain. Devoted to Roman art, it exhibits extensive material from the archaeological ensemble of Mérida (the Roman colony of Augusta Emerita), one of the largest and most extensive archaeological sites in Spain, registered as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993.[1] It is one of the National Museums of Spain and it is attached to the Ministry of Culture.
An archaeology museum in Mérida was created for the first time through a royal order issued on 26 March 1838. A church building was repurposed to house the collections as part of the Ecclesiastical confiscations of Mendizábal.[2]
In 1975, on the occasion of the two thousandth anniversary of the city's foundation, the museum was refounded as the National Museum of Roman Art.[3] The current building is a work by Spanish architect Rafael Moneo. Building works started in 1981. The new premises were unveiled on 19 September 1986.[4]