The area where the rare mosaic was found in Durrës is protected

2023-11-19 17:43:00, Kulturë CNA

The area where the rare mosaic was found in Durrës is protected

Photo taken by VOA

In the city of Durrës, the Ministry of Culture protected an area where a rare mosaic was discovered in mid-October of this year.

The mosaic came to light when the foundations were being laid for a secondary school which was to be rebuilt after it was damaged by the November earthquake four years ago.

Archaeologist Luan Përzhita says that the mosaic is in quite good condition with an area of ??over 60 square meters.

"We are lucky because the discovered mosaic is in a very good condition. He has decorated the territory of a luxurious villa, near the Durrës amphitheater, and as a dating time we think it is somewhere between the end of the 1st century BC and the beginning of the 1st century AD. Today we talk about what we know, but perhaps future developments will have a more accurate dating of this mosaic. The mosaic itself is such, special, even for the city of Durrës and for Albania, and it is part of the further wealth of this ancient heritage that is added to the city as well known as the city of Dyrrah was in antiquity", said Luan Përzhita.

Mr. Përzhita further says that the area has archaeological value but has also been affected by construction over the years.

"It is too soon to speak. What we know is that the "Gjergj Kastrioti" high school was built here in the 1960s-1970s. A large bunker was also built by the Italian forces in this area in the 1940s. These constructions, as far as we have seen, have occasionally damaged the archaeological structures located in this territory. There is also a corner of the school that is connected to the part of the mosaic that had its foundations in this part", he said.

The archaeological dig in the area is fragile, but the cooperation of state and local structures, as well as the enterprise working to rebuild the school, is quite good, says Maringlen Meshini, an archaeologist in the Rescue Archeology Sector.

"We are in optimal conditions where, parallel to the project, we have all the possibilities to carry out the rescue archaeological excavation, which is only one of the phases of this process. After the archaeological excavation is carried out, we will look at the whole situation in a wider context how are these archaeological findings, these discoveries, the pore mosaic itself and other objects in relation to the project and then we will have another decision-making for the future of this area," he said.

Mr. Meshini further says that the discovery is one of the future postcards of tourism and Albanian cultural heritage.

"For the very nature of this discovery, for the size, for the quality above all and for what it represents in the context where it is located, let's say that in advance we are dealing with a postcard of tourism and Albanian cultural heritage", said Meshini .

While Mr. Përzhita says that not only the mosaic but also other archaeological finds are expected to bring more information about this area.

The underground of Durrës brings new archaeological discoveries from time to time, but the overload of constructions in many cases has damaged different historical periods of the development of the ancient city./VOA