Mogorjelo Archaeological Site

Mogorjelo is the most important Roman archeological site of Herzegovina featuring the remains and group of buildings of the Roman walled Villa rustica with palace and religious strucctures, surrounded with lush Mediterranean vegetation. The Mogorjelo site dates from the early 4th century CE and is situated on a hill located few kilometers away from Čapljina, alongside the road to Gabela – National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Mogorjelo site contains the fortified Villa suburbana from the beginning of the 4th century, on the hill exposed to sun, with mosaic floors and walls decorated with artificial marble. There were two construction techniques applied in the Mogorjelo Villa – 20 cm thick layers of limestone and layers of stone combined with bricks. In the 1st century here was the agricultural estate with living structures, storages and agricultural processing tools. Within the Mogorjelo Villa, behind the large and massive walls with towers, there have been remains of the ancient villa from the 1st century, which was destroyed in fire around the 3rd century, as well the bakery, oil factory and blacksmith workshop. The Mogorjelo monument of culture is one of the most beautiful buildings of the late antique architecture throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Mogorjelo site was a Roman garrison in one of the strategic Balkans locations. In the first half of the 1st century of the Christian era, a large fortified farm has been built here, as a beautiful building. The farm of Mogorjelo was destroyed in the 3rd century. Mogorjelo supplied the Roman city of Narona and it probably defended the city and the surrounding areas, the ruins of which lie in the village of Vido near Metkovic in Croatia, on the very border between present Croatia and Bosnia. Another hundred years went by and a solid country house with beautiful porches and a piscina /Roman water reservoir/ and central heating were built again in Mogorjelo. The fury of the Visigoths, in the early 5th century, one again destroyed the magnificent Roman settlement. In the 5th century, two early Christian basilicas were built against the walls of the Mogorjelo stronghold. Graves have also been found in the Mogorjelo area between the round tower and the banks of the Neretva River, many have presumably been washed away by fluvial erosion. Some graves dating from the antiquity, and some vaulted graves /both dating from the 5th to 6th centuries/, some earlier and later Slavic graves /9th to 16th centuries/ and graves from later periods, up to the 19th century, have also been found. The Mogorjelo area is currently protected by the state as the monument of culture and is surrounded by a gorgeous park and a horse farm.

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