ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF ULPIANA
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The largest archaeological site in Kosovo (Parku Arkeologjik Ulpiana, Arheološki Park Ulpiana) covers 33 ha. It is also the best presented. It contains the remains of a Roman town founded by Emperor Trajan at the turn of the 1st century AD to control the Metalla Ulpiana (Novo Brdo) mine, and later refounded by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian in the 6th century as Justiniana Secunda. On site, the visit can be a bit boring, since no large building has been uncovered since the excavations began in 1953. No standing columns, no beautiful villa or theatre to photograph, then. Ulpiana is not Pompeii: it did not remain frozen in time, but slowly declined after an earthquake in 518. The remains of a temple, public baths and a mosaic bear witness to its former greatness, when it played the role of commercial crossroads of the Roman province of Dardania. However, well-done explanations in English are now available. It is fun to rediscover the typical Roman city layout with a beautiful portion of the cardo maximus (the main axis running north-south), two necropolises and fortifications. In 2017, French archaeologists unearthed an astonishing early Christian church from the 6th century (after the earthquake). Its particularity: it is fortified. This testifies to the inhabitants' sense of adaptation to the arrival of new peoples from the north.
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