Project for protecting Heraclea Lyncestis mosaic kicks off
A team of experts of Bitola Museum kicked off Monday a projects for protecting a mosaic of the southern annex of Heraclea Lyncestis Great Basilica.
Old fillings have been replaced with new ones, thus contributing to the mosaic compactness, said Dragan Vergovski, expert of Skopje National Conservation Center.
Heraclea Lyncestis, also spelled Herakleia Lynkestis, was a town founded by Philip II of Macedon in the middle of the 4th century BC in what was once the north-western region of the ancient kingdom of Macedon. The town was named in honor of the mythological Greek hero Heracles. The epithet Lyncestis is the Greek meaning "the Land of the Lynx". Today its ruins fall within the borders of Macedonia, near Bitola.
The Great Basilica is a monumental building with a room of open porch colonnades, a room of egzonarteks, one of narteks, two north annexes, and a room of three south annexes. The floors of these rooms are mosaic with geometric and floral designs. The mosaic in the narthex is of early Byzantine art, a big composition at a size of 100 m. There are birds, trees, bushes, a red dog, which is a symbol of paradise, and animals beasts as a domain of the earth. This mosaic dates from the end of the 6th century. The Great Basilica is built on top of another one and was made sometime between the 4th to 6th century. //12.30.08
A team of experts of Bitola Museum kicked off Monday a projects for protecting a mosaic of the southern annex of Heraclea Lyncestis Great Basilica.
Old fillings have been replaced with new ones, thus contributing to the mosaic compactness, said Dragan Vergovski, expert of Skopje National Conservation Center.
Heraclea Lyncestis, also spelled Herakleia Lynkestis, was a town founded by Philip II of Macedon in the middle of the 4th century BC in what was once the north-western region of the ancient kingdom of Macedon. The town was named in honor of the mythological Greek hero Heracles. The epithet Lyncestis is the Greek meaning "the Land of the Lynx". Today its ruins fall within the borders of Macedonia, near Bitola.
The Great Basilica is a monumental building with a room of open porch colonnades, a room of egzonarteks, one of narteks, two north annexes, and a room of three south annexes. The floors of these rooms are mosaic with geometric and floral designs. The mosaic in the narthex is of early Byzantine art, a big composition at a size of 100 m. There are birds, trees, bushes, a red dog, which is a symbol of paradise, and animals beasts as a domain of the earth. This mosaic dates from the end of the 6th century. The Great Basilica is built on top of another one and was made sometime between the 4th to 6th century. //12.30.08
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