Amphitheater, Sofia

The amphitheater of Serdika dating back to the end of 3rd – 4th century was discovered during the construction of the Arena di Serdika Hotel in 2004. Today, in the basement of the hotel visitors can see the exhibited part of this magnificent antique facility free of charge. It was built on the foundations of a former Roman theater from the 2nd – 3rd century.

The amphitheater was massive for its time – with external dimensions of 100/80m and in the arena – 60/40 m. The visitors sectors were separated by radial staircases. Today, some of the stone seats can be seen from the audience places. Circus games and gladiatorial battles used to take place.
In 1919 in the region /near the Council of Ministers/ was discovered an extremely valuable find – a stone plate-placard, which depicted scenes of battles between people and animals. This implied that there were gladiatorial battles in Roman Serdika. Almost a century after the discovery of the placard-plate, remnants of the Amphitheater were found as well. The stone placard can be seen at the National Archaeological Museum.

During the excavations of the Amphitheater, the archaeologists also came across many coins and ceramic vessels, which proved the time of construction of the facility. The amphitheater was built in the end of the 3rd century /most likely during the reign of Emperor Diocletian/ but it was expanded with more rows on the south during the rule of Emperor Constantine the Great. It was used until the end of the 4th century and after that it lost the status of an entertainment field. In the 5th – 6th century the remnants of the theater were used as building materials and parts of the facility were transformed to workshops and dwellings for poor people.

The remains of the theater are actually located alongside Dondukov Boulevard. Today, apart from the remnants in the Arena di Serdika hotel, parts of the facility remains under several important buildings in the center of Sofia – the Youth Theater, the German Goethe Cultural Institute and others.
The site is part of the Museum of History of Sofia /Regional Museum of History/.

Useful information

Serdika Amphitheater
Sofia, 2 Budapeshta Str, /in the basement of Arena di Serdika Hotel/
Archeological exposition can be seen free of charge every day from 9.00 to 19.00.

The site is part of the Museum of History of Sofia /Regional Museum of History/.
Museum of History of Sofia
Sofia, 1 Banski Sq
Tel.: +359 985 44 55, +359 2 983 37 55 /Director/, e-mail: director@sofiahistorymuseum.bg, website: http://sofiahistorymuseum.bg

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