Archaeologists have made a jaw-dropping discovery during the reconstruction of a city museum in Split, a city in southern Croatia.
Hidden underneath the museum's grand reception area, the team was shocked to find a sprawling Roman bathhouse, estimated to have been built in the fourth century A.D.
The Split City Museum is housed in a former Renaissance palace belonging to the affluent Papalić family, who settled in Split during the 14th century. The ongoing work, which involves an elevator installation and ground floor reconstruction, is part of a European project called "Palace of Life, City of Change," which aims to rejuvenate the city's cultural center.
Split is the second largest city in Croatia and lies on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. The city was founded in the third century B.C. as a Greek colony and is decorated by a rich display of different architectural styles, from the Classical period to the Gothic.
Among these treasures are the remains of Diocletian's Palace, an ancient complex built for the Roman emperor Diocletian at the end of the third century. It was built as an imperial city palace and sea fortress and covers seven acres.
The recent discovery is believed to have been built around the same time. The unearthed structures include a sophisticated heating system, complete with a furnace construction and underfloor heating, according to Total Croatia News.
A deeper dig revealed an ancient mosaic, a pool with a white mosaic floor and an oil and grape press. Head archaeological researcher Nebojša Cingeli said archaeologists had thought this part of the city had once housed the Diocletian palace's barracks and training grounds for staff and guards. But this discovery shows that thermal baths were also present.
The museum staffers hope to open the excavated rooms to the public, but first they need to reinforce the walls and secure the structures.
"The fact that all of these layers of earlier buildings that once made up the city are visible inside the Split City Museum provides this museum with additional value that is exceptionally rare," said the director of the Split City Museum, Vesna Bulić Baketić.
"The layered construction started with the ancient layer and continued on into late antiquity, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance.... All the way up until the 19th and 20th centuries is a paradigm per se."
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Pandora Dewan is a Senior Science Reporter at Newsweek based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on science, health ... Read more
