ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF MUNICIPIUM DARDANORUM

This site (Arheološko nalazište Municipium Dardanorum, Lokaliteti arkeologjik Municipium Dardanorum) contains the remains of a Roman town that disappeared in the 4th century. It is cut in two by a railway line and is located between the Ibar and the road to Mitrovica. Municipium Dardanorum was officially established during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-180), during a period of strong urban development in Upper Mesa, a Roman province that stretched from the Danube to Macedonia and included most of Kosovo. Belonging to the Roman plebeian family of Aufidia, this civitas was the administrative seat of the mining region of Metalla dardanica located between the Kopaonik massif (to the north-east) and Mount Rogozna (to the west). In the sources it is known as mun. DD, the city was located in the ancient kingdom of Dardania, conquered by the Romans in 28 BC, and enjoyed the status of municipium given to an indigenous colony raised to the rank of Roman city. The findings place the first Roman settlement at the beginning of the 2nd century AD. They also tend to prove an occupation probably dating back to the Neolithic period. In spite of the wealth from the mines, the city seems to have been abandoned after the Gothic revolt in 378.

Visit. Excavations by Yugoslav archaeologists in the 1960s established that Municipium Dardanorum covered an area of about 30 ha. Between the present road and the Ibar, the bases of two buildings were uncovered. These constituted the centre of the city. First, there is the forum (38 x 25 m) which had political, religious and commercial functions. Divided into three wings, it includes the bases of two small buildings with identical structures on the east and west sides, while towards the centre there is a platform 1.10 m high on which a temple must have stood. Here a plaque bearing the name of the Emperor Hadrian (117-138) was discovered, indicating that the forum dates from the early 2nd century. Then you have to go along the forum by the road that goes down to pass on the other side of the railway. We then discover the layout of a civil basilica (55 x 16.50 m). This large building was used to store ores from the mines. Further west, archaeologists have discovered traces of baths, dwellings, a horreum (warehouse), a necropolis and a bridge over the Ibar River.