Ulpija Serdika. Bulgaria

"Serdika" is one of the names of Sofia. And "Serdika Ulpia" is the name of the ancient fortress, which the Romans built on the site of the Thracian settlement "Serdonpolis". Under Marc Ulpia Trajan, the settlement was given the imperial status of a self-governing city and therefore the generic name Trajan - Ulpiy was added to the name of Serdika. It turned out "Serdika Ulpia". This was the period before the stone walls (98 - 117).

It is believed that the stone fortress was built by Marcus Aurelius (Marcus Aurelius Antonius Augustus) in 176 AD. Before that, more than 100 years old, it was wooden, or rather, it consisted of wickerwork. Roman barracks were built of boards, vines and clay. But all this was well burned and the neighboring tribes of the Kostoboks loved to set fire to a Roman outpost.

Therefore, Marcus Aurelius built a stone fortress about the size of about 17 hectares. The fortress turned out to be a pentagonal one, because in the north-west there was a river that prevented to put a watchtower there. The walls of the fortress reached a height of 9 meters and a thickness of just under three. Every 60 meters were marked by watchtowers, which were three meters above the walls in this place.

Three hundred years later, a second wall was built to strengthen the first perimeter, and two hundred more, under the Emperor Justinian, the walls were fortified with a thickness increase of two meters more from the stones. In the same years triangular towers were built.

Last year, Bulgarian historians officially announced the opening of another fortress wall - the outer perimeter, which increases the size of Serdika Ulpia, about five times! For the fourth century of our era, a settlement of 85 hectares in the territory of which there is a sewage system, water supply, baths, paved roads and other communications, this is very impressive!

Since 2012 the fortress is actively digging out and now, thanks to Unesco, the center of Sofia has turned into a large interactive museum. Interactive in the sense that everything is available - everything can be touched, everywhere you go and even sleep) For example, under the lorgotta - it's glass domes on the Independence Square

The entrance is absolutely free. You will see these ancient walls just while you go to the metro station "Serdika".

Remnants of the sexual mosaic.

The exit through the eastern gate is the Eastern port.

Here two columns are original (dark), the rest are imitation.

Ancient pavement.

The original brickwork without preservation is Roman bricks.

Largoto.

The original article in Russian can be read here.

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All photos in this blog are taken by me unless otherwise attributed.

With love from Bulgaria @varya-davydova

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