Built during the 4th and 5th centuries, this early Christian basilica started off as a chapel erected on the remains of a Roman building. It was built as a triconchos-shaped building, also known as ‘cella trichora’, with each of its apsis containing one tomb.

The rest of the three-nave basilica was later built around the chapel making it the heart of the complex and its central altar space. An atrium, and living and working quarters were subsequently added to the northern side of the basilica, while the southern wing held a baptistery with its own apsis and a chapel.

A lot of these, as well as other, renovations and additions are believed to have been done between the 7th and 9th centuries when the basilica was run by the Benedictine monks. Along with the renovations, the Benedictines built an entirely new complex west of the basilica, consisting of a monastery with an atrium and living and working sections.

The entire complex was abandoned during the 13th century. While only the ruins of it remain today, the floor mosaics of the chapel and the basilica are still visible. The artefacts found on site include the pre-Romanesque stone furniture dated to the 11th century, parts of tombs and fragments of fresco paintings.

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№7 of 8 Ruins and archeological sites in Barbariga
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