Museum of Mosaics

The Museum of Mosaics in Devnya, Bulgaria, is situated on the remains of a Late Roman villa known as the House of Antiope. Founded in 1976 through archaeological research, the villa dates back to the late 3rd or early 4th century AD. The museum showcases mosaics from the Roman and early Byzantine city of Marcianopolis, along with other archaeological artifacts.

The villa, almost square in shape, features 21 rooms around an inner courtyard, with a total area of 1,409 m2. The museum building, designed by architect Kamen Goranov, covers the western part of the villa. However, there have been concerns about the building's structural integrity, with visible cracks and sinking due to groundwater.

Three of the mosaics are exhibited in situ and the remaining have been moved from their original locations in order to be conserved and restored. As a whole, the mosaics were laid out using the opus tessellatum (tiles aligned in horizontal or vertical lines) and opus vermiculatum (tiles aligned so as to draw an outline around the shapes) techniques. The tiles were made of marble, clay, limestone and coloured glass and include 16 colour varieties.

References:

• Wikipedia

Address

Съединение 83, Devnya, Bulgaria

Details

Founded: 3rd century AD
Category: Prehistoric and archaeological sites in Bulgaria