Museum of Mosaics, Devnya, Bulgaria

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.

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User Reviews

Deyan Stoynov (2 years ago)
3-4 big mosaic and several artifacts. 30 min max to see all what’s inside

Noel Nugteren (2 years ago)
Nice, but small. Low entrance fee (5 lv) was ok for it however.

Dimitar Stefanov (2 years ago)
Cool mosaics, but I would like it more if they clean them better or show a picture/reproduction of the mosaics' picture, so we can see clearly what it's supposed to look like.

Octav Popescu (3 years ago)
Great underrated museum, despite the poor local organisation. At first I thought it is closed but luckily some school children came and entered. Very interesting mosaics, gold coins and artefacts.

Darin Krumov (4 years ago)
Great museum, but a bit old and needs restoration. Interesting mosaics can be seen as a glimpse into the Ancient Roman lifestyle.

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The ancient Argos Theater was built in 320 BC. and is located in Argos, Greece against Larissa Hill. Nearby from this site is Agora, Roman Odeon, and the Baths of Argos. The theater is one of the largest architectural developments in Greece and was renovated in ca 120 AD.

The Hellenistic theater at Argos is cut into the hillside of the Larisa, with 90 steps up a steep incline, forming a narrow rectilinear cavea. Among the largest theaters in Greece, it held about 20,000 spectators and is divided by two landings into three horizontal sections. Staircases further divide the cavea into four cunei, corresponding to the tribes of Argos A high wall was erected to prevent unauthorized access into the theatron and may have helped the acoustics, but it is said the sound quality is still very good today.

Around 120 CE, both theaters were renovated in the Roman style.

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