Amphitheatre of Serdica - Discovery

Discovery

The existence of a Roman amphitheatre in ancient Serdica had been conjectured ever since 1919, when a stone plate depicting an amphitheatre's facade and fights between gladiators and wild animals was unearthed near what is today the Council of Ministers of Bulgaria edifice. The plate shows crocodiles, bears, bulls and wild cats as involved in the fights. It is thought to have stood at the entrance of Roman Serdica, so as to serve as advertisement for these events. The plate is currently displayed in the National Historical Museum of Bulgaria in the same city.

The amphitheatre itself was accidentally discovered in 2004, during the early constructions of what came to be known as the Arena di Serdica Hotel. In the modern cityscape of Sofia, the ruins lie south of Knyaz Aleksandar Dondukov Boulevard, between the Goethe-Institut headquarters and the embassy of the United Kingdom. Until the digging of the foundations of a National Electric Company office building in the vicinity in July 2006 came across further ruins, however, it was not clear that the unearthed Roman structure was indeed part of a large arena. The east gate and the section of the amphitheatre within the hotel lot, which is about 1/6th of the entire building, was preserved and incorporated into the hotel's ground floor. It is freely accessible for tourists during the day, except on Mondays, and includes a small expositions of coins and ceramics unearthed on the site. As of 2007, the west gate and the adjacent part of the amphitheatre was being excavated at the National Electric Company lot and a campaign had begun to prevent the construction of the planned building on the site.