Plovdiv has a long, rich and fascinating history. Philip II of Macedonia [vainly] named it Philippopolis in 342 BC and the Romans called it Trimontium [City of 3 hills] in 72 AD. There are some impressive Roman remains dotted around the Old Town and city centre. If you love ancient mosaics [like me] then you are in for a real treat…..
The Roman Theatre was only discovered in 1972. It is set on the side of a steep hill in the Old Town and offers wonderful views over Plovdiv towards the Rhodope Mountains. The theatre was built in the 1st century AD.
The Roman Stadium is right in the centre of the main shopping area in Plovdiv. It was built in the 2nd Century and would have held chariot races as well as other events and was able to accommodate 30,000 people. You can still enter via one of the tunnels.
The odeon was used as a theatre and is where the city council would have met circa 2nd – 4th Century AD. The forum which is next to the odeon would have been lined with shops and public buildings. The remains are clearly visible a little south of the Old Town next to the large post office.
The Bishop’s Basilica is on the site of an earlier pagan temple and contains wonderful mosaics dating from the end of the 4th century. They are in situ and are protected by a purpose built building. On entry you will have your footwear covered by heat shrunk plastic so you don’t get dirt over the glass walkways that are built over the mosaics. [If you watch the video below, the weird crunchy noises are the plastic covers on our feet].
The detail, the scale and colours of the mosaics are incredible. In places you can see where a new layer of mosaics were overlaid over an older layer possibly when the old layer was damaged by an earthquake. The second layer of mosaics is full of symbolic bird imagery.
Just a few minutes walk along Princess Marie Louise street is the Small Basilica. As the title suggests it’s on a smaller scale than the Bishiop’s Basilica but the mosaics are still wonderful and it’s worth buying a combined ticket for both sites.
The museum is small and has well presented exhibits over two floors. It’s next to the History Museum on the side of Saedinenie Square which has the Unification Monument in the centre. There are some well preserved gold burial treasure items from the 3rd Century BC and a a fragment of a mosaic from the Ancient Synagogue dating from the 3rd Century AD.
Above- Ritual vessel 4000BC and silver and iron helmet/ mask from the 1st Century AD which was discovered in Plovdiv in 1905. It was stolen in 1995 and subsequently returned in 2015.
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