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.
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