Description
Basilica ruins are located in the center of Saranda city. This monument is located inside and very close to the eastern wall of late antiquity. In the urban and archaeological context where this rare complex is located for the period (Centuries IV-VI), it is very important to understand the organization of the ancient center of Saranda. Archaeological excavations began in 1979 and continued in several campaigns throughout the 1980s by archaeologist Costa Lako, who discovered a complex monument with several stages of construction from the Roman period to late antiquity, the most important of which was its conversion to a Paleo-Christian basilica. Excavations at the monument were resumed in 2003 by a joint Albanian-Israeli project by archaeologists Gideon Forster, Costa Lako, Etleva Nallbani, Ehud Netzer, and with the collaboration of the Institute of Cultural Monuments with the participation of Agron Islam. These excavations explained that the Paleo-Christian basilica excavated by Costa Lako constitutes the final phase of the transformation of the Jewish cult complex into a Christian cult building.
This transformation has not come about as a result of any violent change.
According to archaeologists, the community that used the Jewish complex was either converted to the Christian religion, or another Christian community replaced the Jewish one
Location
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Basilica Synagogue
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