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Roman period

Forum of Philippopolis

The civic heart of Roman Philippopolis: a public square begun under Emperor Vespasian in the 1st century and completed in the 2nd, covering about 11 hectares. Ringed by shops, the city council's Odeon and other public buildings, it was the focal point of the ancient street grid, near today's central post office.

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Forum of Philippopolis
Dennis G. Jarvis, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0 Image license

Story of the place

How to read this place

The Forum was the beating heart of Roman Philippopolis — the largest forum in Bulgaria, where the city's administration, commerce, faith and politics met around a great marble square.

Built
1st c. AD
Size
143 × 136 m
Area
≈ 20 hectares

The Roman city centre

The forum was built in the 1st century AD under Emperor Vespasian, when the city received a new Roman urban plan. It was the centre of public, administrative, commercial and religious life — a marketplace where Thracian grain, timber and honey were traded for fine pottery and bronze vessels.

Source trail: Wikipedia — Roman forum of Philippopolis ↗

A square ringed with marble

The rectangular square measures 143 by 136 m, and the whole complex covers about 20 hectares, of which 11 have been excavated — the largest Roman forum in Bulgaria. Shops with narrow porticoes ringed it on the east, south and west; in the north-east corner stood the Odeon (bouleuterion), to the west the library, and inscriptions also record a treasury. Later phases added marble porticoes with columns of the Corinthian order.

Source trail: Wikipedia — Roman forum of Philippopolis ↗

Beneath the modern centre

The forum was discovered in 1971 during construction of the Central Post Office. Life here fell silent in the mid-5th century, when barbarian invasions forced the people of Philippopolis to abandon the lower quarters and withdraw to the acropolis. The remains are visible beside Gurko Street and the main pedestrian street.

Source trail: Wikipedia — Roman forum of Philippopolis ↗
Today and what to notice

Current status

Open archaeological site in the central city area; detailed access and visiting information still needs verification.

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Public Wikidata record

historic Roman plaza in the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Type
agora
Status/protection
monument
Inception
1
Wikidata record ↗ Wikipedia: Roman forum of Philippopolis ↗

Traces and evidence

Current status

Open archaeological site in the central city area; detailed access and visiting information still needs verification.

Ownership, care and institutions

The institutional context runs through Regional History Museum — Plovdiv. That is not automatically an ownership history; it is a verifiable trail of public care, memory or governance.

  • Regional History Museum — Plovdiv

Connected people

No people are linked in the current knowledge base.

Visit and orientation

Coordinates
42.14211, 24.75094 · wikidata_coordinate
Built/date
Roman period
Architect/builder
not identified in the current public source
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Full event stream

All 1 linked events are grouped by record type.

historical_timeline 1 records

  1. The Roman Forum

    Begun under Emperor Vespasian in the 1st century and finished in the 2nd, the forum of Trimontium covered about 11 hectares. Ringed by shops and public buildings, it was the focal point of the ancient city's streets.

Around this place

No other places are linked through the same events.

No separate archive or then/now record is available for this place yet. The main image, coordinates and sources remain published.