Roman Emona

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Contact info
Rimska Emona
http://www.mgml.si/en/city-muse
info@mgml.si (mailto:info@mgm
l.si)
Mirje 4, SI-1000 Ljubljana
Phone

386 (0) 1 241 2500

Fax

386 (0) 1 241 2540

Region

SI-1

Managed Museum and Galleries of

by
Ljubljana

Bla Perin, Director

blaz.persin@mgml.si (mail
to:blaz.persin@mgml.si)
Bernarda upanek, Curator for the
Antique
Emona (Latin: Colonia Iulia Aemona) was a Roman civil town, built on the site

of an old indigenous settlement on the territory of the present Ljubljana around

14 AD. This is evidenced by an inscription about a donation that the city received from the emperors Augustus and Tiberius.
Emona's ground plan was 430 metres times 540 metres and was surrounded by
city walls, which were 6 to 8 metres high and 2.5 metres thick. The city was defended with 29 towers, which were built every 60 metres along the walls. Former decumanus and cardo are today's Rimska and Slovenska streets, where a
large new presentation in the opposite of the Urulinke church reveals the findings of the latest excavations on the Congress Square (Kongresni trg). The Roman forum is stressed with the building design of Ferant garden by the architect
Edvard Ravnikar. The remains of a baptistery with a pool, mosaics, and part of
portico may be seen at Erjaveva 18, next to Cankarjev dom Culture and Congress Centre.

Contents
1 History
2 Ground plan
3 Remains
4 See also
5 External links
6 Gallery

History
Emona had a population of 3,000 to 5,000 people, mostly farmers, landlords
and merchants, including a small number of government officials and war veterans. Its streets were paved and its houses were built of stone with the hypocaust
underfloor heating system, and connected to a public sewage system. The walls
of the houses were plastered and painted in different colours, and the floors covered in mosaics. Emona had its own local goddess, Equrna, worshipped at the
Ljubljana Marshes.
Along with the Western Roman Empire, from the 5th century CE, Emona fell
into a decline. After several setbacks in 238, 314 and 401 CE, it was finally abandoned in the 6th century CE.

Ground plan
Emona's ground plan was 430 metres times 540 metres and was surrounded by
city walls, which were 6 to 8 metres high and 2.5 metres thick. Four main entrances were located by the exits of Cardo maximus (today's Slovenska Street)
and Decumanus maximus streets (today's Rimska Street), along which the forum was located. The city was defended with 29 towers, which were built every
60 metres along the walls.

bernarda.zupanek@mgml.si (mail
to:bernarda.zupanek@mgml.si)
Jakopiev vrt
Mirje 4, SI-1000 Ljubljana
Bapistry: Old Christian Centre
Emona
Erjaveva 18, SI-1000 Ljubljana
Online accounts:
facebook (https://www.facebook.
com/pages/Razstava-Emonamesto-v-imperi
ju/115550538470822)

Remains
The relics of Roman Emona may be found in 3 main areas of Ljubljana as well as
in the urban planning of the town. Former decumanus and cardo are today's
Rimska and Slovenska streets, where a large new presentation in the opposite of
the Urulinke church reveals the findings of the latest excavations on the Congress Square (Kongresni trg). The Roman forum is stressed with the building design of Ferant garden by the architect Edvard Ravnikar. A copy of the Roman
statue Emonec stands at the west side of Congress Square. An attentive walker
can find Roman spolia built in different buildings, from the Cathedral to the
Ljubljana Castle. The finds of Roman insula underground are presented in different pavements such as that along Vegova street.
The archaeological site at the former Rihard Jakopi garden, managed by the
Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana, contains the foundations of an Emona
house (part of an insula) with mosaics and the remains of floor heating, part of a
street and a section of the town sewage system. A section of the old Roman city
walls, renovated by architect Joe Plenik, may be seen in the Mirje district. The
remains of a baptistery with a pool, mosaics, and part of portico may be seen at
Erjaveva 18, next to Cankarjev dom Culture and Congress Centre and Majda
Vrhovnik Primary School.

See also
Emona, Legacy of a Roman City, overview article by Bernarda upanek, Curator
for the Antique at Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana
Other Roman archaeological findings in Slovenia
Other Roman archaeological findings in Ljubljana
City Museum of Ljubljana
Jakopi Gallery

External links
Archaeological parks of the City Museum of Ljubljana (http://www.mgml.si/en/city-museum-of-ljubljana-377/archaeological-parks/)
Emona: Myth and Reality catalogue, 2010 (http://www.mgml.si/media/katalog_9_5.pdf) (PDF, Slovenian and English)
Roman Emona web page (http://www.burger.si/MuzejiInGalerije/MestniMuzejLjubljana/Emona/ENGUvod.html)
Emona on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emona) (English)
Emona on Wikipedia, a complex article published in 2013 (http://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emona) (in Slovenian)
About Emona on the Visit Ljubljana website (http://www.visitljubljana.com/en/ljubljana-and-central-slovenia/about-ljubljana/history/romanemona/)

Gallery

Archaeological park Emona

House, MGML archive, 2005

Archaeological park Emona

House, MGML archive, 2005

Baptismal pool in the Christian

Centre archaeological park,
MGML archive, 2005

Baptismal pool in the Christian

Centre archaeological park,
MGML archive, 2005

Christian Centre archaeologi

cal park, MGML archive, 2005

Emona forum, reconstructed

by Ljudmila Plesniar Gec and
Arxel Ltd.

Emona plan view with main

roads and tombs by Dimitrij
Mleku

Emona small shops, recon

structed by Katarina Toman
Kracina, Museum and Gal
leries of Ljubljana (MGML) ar
chive

Glass mosaic goblet, discov

ered in northern Emona ceme
tery

Model of Emona, eastern gate

of Emona in the foreground,
MGML archive

Mosaic in the archaeological

park Emona House, MGML
archive, 2005

One of the best preserved

donor inscriptions on the floor
of the baptismal font in the
Christian Centre archaeologi
cal park, the inscription says
that Ahelaj and Honorata with
their families contributed 20
feet of mosaic

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