Travel Guide Caričin Grad (Царичин Град)

The hilltop was occupied as early as the 3rd century and the city was founded by Emperor Justinian I, who wanted to make it an administrative and spiritual center of western Illyria. Shortly after his death in 565, Slavic tribes invaded the site, which was abandoned in the early 7th century. Built on a hill at the confluence of two small rivers, the city itself consisted of a high city, enclosed in a wall. The long but sporadic excavations explain the impression of incompleteness that the visit leaves.At present, only a few elements have been excavated: the main road, lined with porticoes made of brick pillars, has been well restored, as have the Byzantine baths. We can also see the remains of one of the first churches, dated from the5th century, and especially the walls and some mosaics of a basilica that must have been imposing, if we believe the plans found. After the troubles of the 1990s, a team of French archaeologists resumed work and the site is being studied closely, gradually being rescued from the oblivion in which it was found.