Turistička organizacija Veliko Gradište

Viminacium was the capital of the Roman province Mesia

The story of past fame and ruin of this town and military camp attracted of not only national,but international public as well, and they are impatiently awaiting the time when Viminacium will take its proper place on the world' s cultural and historic scene.

Telephone for contact: 062/669-013
Jelena Andjelkovic

Duration : 3 to 4 hours
 

Viminacium was the capital of the Roman province Mesia.The story of past fame and ruin of this town and military camp attracted of not only national,but international public as well, and they are impatiently awaiting the time when Viminacium will take its proper place on the world' s cultural and historic scene.The area of this Roman town and military camp (more than 450 hectares of the town's outskirts and 220 hectares of the town's proper) is nowdays under cultivable soil, while the objects from the Roman period are scattered around in furrows.During the last three decades of the 20th century some research of Viminacium's Town of the Dead was carried and more than 13,500 graves were found.The research of this Roman town and military camp has been carried on by an interdisciplinary team which consists of experts from different fields.The project Viminacium, apart from archeologists, gathers matematicians, engeneers, geophysicians, geologists, and petrologists, researches from remote detecion, 3D modeling and recognizing shapes as well as for artificial intelligance.Their wish is to dig up squares , temples, theatres and hippodrome, baths, streets, and part of the town, which have been lying underneath for ages, and make them a part or internacional and national cultural wealth, as well as a symbol of this area. The villages Stari Kostolac and Drmno, 13 km from Pozarevac, stand on the remains of this antique town Viminacium, the capital of the Roman province Mesia Superior, later the province Mesia Prima. According to historic sources it is well know that Viminacium was an important military centre where a Roman legion was stationed (legio VII Claudia pia fidelis). In the last quarter of the 20th century due to archeological excavations it was slowly arising from poor historic records and was becoming a town, which in its history of six centuries had a dinamic development and was a place where not only the eastern and western cultures met, but a place where tradesmen from the Roman Empire gladly went. It seems that the economic wealth of this town,whose goods found buyers even outside the borders of the province, was the base for many artistic workshops in this area. Those workshops from the 4th century left some of the most important frescoes paintad in the crypts from the late classical period.Viminacium, as an important milatary centre and the capital of a Roman province, was founded on the territory of a Celts tribe Scrods. Its size and importance were the result of several facts: rich area near the Mlava River, and a very important geographic position, not only in the Empire defense system, but also in communication and trade infrastucture. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century,M. Valtrovic and M.Vasic carried out some archeological research at the right bank of the Mlava on a locality known as Cair. The research showed that the camp had a rectangular base, dimensions 442 x 385 metres, and that not far away from its walls there contours of Viminacium: wide streets that meet at right angle, squares, theatres, baths, water supply system, town s ramperts and towers.