{"id":7434,"date":"2021-05-19T12:00:33","date_gmt":"2021-05-19T19:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.roamintheempire.com\/?p=7434"},"modified":"2021-08-31T11:13:57","modified_gmt":"2021-08-31T18:13:57","slug":"serdica-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.roamintheempire.com\/index.php\/2021\/05\/19\/serdica-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Serdica, Thracia – Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"East<\/a>
East gate and decumanus maximus in the Ancient Serdica Archaeological Complex.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Continued from Serdica Part I<\/a><\/p>\n

Out in front of the hotel that makes up the western part of the building complex enclosing the Church of St. Geroge, where we left off, is another set of excavations, the Sveta Nedelya Square excavations. These were ongoing when I visited in 2017, and seem to still be presently under excavation. Unfortunately, not much can be seen from ground level, most of the excavations are surrounded by a solid wall, though there are a few transparent windows to look through. As such, there wasn\u2019t much to see, most of the excavations were covered when I visited. What remains here, though, is apparently the remains of a large public building originally constructed in the 2nd<\/sup> century CE and facing onto the cardo maximus<\/em>. It was subsequently used until the 6th<\/sup> or 7th<\/sup> century CE. Due to the location in a public square, hopefully this will one day be accessible as part of the public archaeological displays in this part of town. There are some nice informational boards on the walls surrounding the excavations with English translations explaining the nature of the remains being uncovered.<\/p>\n

From there, it\u2019s a short walk across Boulevard Todor Alexandrov to perhaps the most significant (in terms of excavated area) set of remains in the city, the Ancient Serdica Archaeological Complex. There are a couple ways to access these remains, which are largely in a publicly accessible area with unrestricted access, and thus no admission or hours. I think the best place to start is at the southeastern part of the complex, which is accessible from the stairways leading down to the subterranean pedestrian area at the intersection of Boulevard Todor Alexandrov and Ploshtad Knyaz Aleksandar I, at the southeastern corner of the imposing government building that towers over Boulevard Todor Alexandrov.<\/p>\n