During 1964, while building a dam 1.5km southwest of the residential
Ivailovgrad district of Ladja, builders happened upon traces of an ancient building. The archeological excavations that followed revealed remains from antiquity of a villa from the period of Roman dominion of the land. It became popular by the name
Villa Armira, derived from the name of a small river (a tributary of the Arda River) on whose banks the villa is built.The ancient
Villa Armira is an impressive complex of residential and economic buildings on a territory of 2,200m2. The residential area covers 978m2, embracing a huge inner yard and surrounded by a closed gallery with columns and a swimming pool in the middle. The residential rooms – dining room, living room, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, etc., are situated around the pool. The heating of the rooms was carried out using hypocaust, an under-floor system in which the floor of the building is raised on columns built from brickwork or ceramic pipes, among which warm air circulates, heated by a specially built fireplace.
The Villa was built in three periods. The first was the first quarter of the 2nd Century during the reign of Emperor Adrian (117–138). Later on, the villa was decorated with rich marble ornaments, the swimming pool was built, and minor changes to the other premises were made. During the third period, the eastern extension of the villa was built, consisting of two huge representative premises and a few smaller ones between them. Construction of the villa was finished during the reign of Antonin Pii (138–161).
During the
excavations
Nostradamus: 2012 trailer were found well-preserved mosaics with figural and geometrical motifs, capitals, fretwork parapets, profiled fragments from columns, cornices and tiling from marble. Among the smaller findings were a great number of ceramic pottery, jewelry and every day objects.
The Villa is a luxurious estate, whose residential rooms are adorned with marble decorations, colored plaster and mosaic floors. In this respect, the Villa is indisputably the most magnificent of the similar buildings found so far in Roman Thrace. Furthermore, buildings with similar marble tiling are very rare in the provinces of the Roman Empire as a whole. A very important fact is that the decorative elements are so well preserved that a complete restoration of the interior of the building is possible.
The agricultural complex of the Villa is not so well preserved, because of the displacement of the terrain. Its purpose was to provide activities such as exploitation of lands, storage and processing of agricultural production, farm equipment, etc. There is no evidence regarding the agricultural activities developed.The Villa was inhabited up to the third quarter of the 4th Century. Its demolition is likely connected to the huge devastation of the environs of Adrianopol during the year 378 AD, when the Roman army led by Emperor Valent was defeated by the Goth tribes. The emperor himself was wounded in that battle and taken away to a villa near the battlefield by his loyal guards. Subsequently, the Goth tribes discovered the sanctuary of the wounded emperor, seized and burn down the villa and killed the emperor. It is very likely that these events occurred exactly in
Villa Armira.
Two Tickets to Paradise release
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