Kostolac Serbia
Serbia
Frequently Asked Questions
For Viminacium. Three kilometres from the river lie the ruins of a Roman capital that archaeologists are uncovering among the crops. Nothing in the landscape - cornfields, a power station - hints at it from the quay.
The capital of Upper Moesia, founded in the 1st century as a legionary camp near the confluence of the Morava and the Danube. A leading military and trading centre on the Empire's frontier, it even struck its own coinage for a few decades.
Because it was never rebuilt. Unlike so many ancient sites buried under modern cities, its streets, baths and necropolises wait beneath the fields. UNESCO has placed it on its tentative World Heritage list.
Under large shelters: the baths with their underfloor-heated rooms, the remains of the military camp gates, and a mausoleum where funerary frescoes preserve faces painted seventeen centuries ago, including a strikingly moving young woman with a level gaze.
Site guides, often archaeologists themselves, whose enthusiasm is contagious. Talk turns to legionaries' rations, aqueducts, gladiators and taxes, and the surrounding fields suddenly resolve back into streets and forums.
Yes. In 2009 the neighbouring Drmno coal mine yielded a remarkably preserved skeleton, far older than the Romans. It is part of the tour and surprises everyone who came for antiquity.
Allow a half-day from the quay, travel included. A modern visitor centre with a cafe and shop lets you catch your breath between excavation sectors.
Not much, and it is worth saying so. Kostolac is a mining and industrial town; the call exists for Viminacium. The contrast between the power station chimneys and the Roman digs is itself part of the experience.
Yes, more than you might expect. The mammoth, the gladiators and the frescoes hold children's attention, and the excavation shelters keep the sun off. Bring water and closed shoes: the ground is dusty.
The Serbian dinar, preferably in cash outside the visitor centre. Serbian dominates, but the Viminacium guides work fluently in English, often with real storytelling talent.
