Archeology - St. Simon's Bay

ST. SIMON'S BAY 

St. Simon's Bay is considered to be the most famous archaeological site from the Roman period. Its name derives from the former church of St. Simon which once stood there. This large bay encompasses the remains of a seaside villa, called villa maritima, together with its own harbour. It consisted of spacious residential areas and a harbour equipped with commercial facilities. The villa was built between 25 and 10 BC. Some of its areas were abandoned between 50 and 70 BC. The residential areas of the villa comprised an area of 3000 m² and were arranged around an inner courtyard. A longer corridor, a portico, connected the villa to the harbour, which extended over approximately 8000 m².

An archaeological park is being developed in this area under the leadership of the University of Primorska. The residential area walls that were discovered during excavations in the 20th century are on display in the park, whereas a part of the reconstructed floor mosaic is displayed on the northern site of the area. To the south lies a corridor connecting the villa to the harbour. The harbour and the rich villa’s remains were already recorded by the well-known local geographer Pietro Coppo in 1540.
 

In this section, we present archaeological finds that have been discovered either through various research or accidentally in the area of Simon's Bay, both on land and in the sea.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

♦ BOLTIN TOME, Elica: Pregled dosedanjih hidroarheoloških raziskav ob slovenski istarski obali, Pitanja istraživanja i zaštite hidroarheoloških spomenika u podmorju istočne obale Jadrana, Split, 1975, 123-129.

♦ BOLTIN TOME, Elica: Arheološke najdbe na kopnem in na morskem dnu v Viližanu in Simonovem zalivu v Izoli, Annales, 1, Koper, 51-58. Arheološke najdbe na kopnem in na morskem dnu v Viližanu in Simonovem zalivu v Izoli, Annales, 1, Koper, 1991, 51-58.

♦ GROH, Stefan; SEDLMAYER, Helga: Ricerche del 2008-2010 nella villa maritima di San Simone / Simonov zaliv presso Isola /Izola (Slovenia), Studia Universitatis Hereditati, Znanstvena revija za raziskave in teorijo kulturne dediščine, letnik 3, št. 2, Koper, 2015, 21-27.

♦ KARINJA, Snježana: Dve rimski pristanišči v Izoli, Arheološka istraživanja u Istri, Znanstveni skup Poreč, 22-26. rujna 1994, Izdanja HAD-a, 18, Zagreb, 1997.

♦ KARINJA, Snježana; ČERČE, Peter: The Roman Port at the St. Simon's Bay Izola. The rescue excavations v: Irena RADIĆ ROSSI et al. Proceedings of the 13 th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologist, Zadar, 2008, 196 -206.

♦ LAZAR, Irena :Arheološki parki in poti v Sloveniji, Parchi e itinerari archeologici in Slovenia, Ljubljana 2014.

♦ STOKIN, Marko; ZANIER: Katharina: Simonov zaliv, San Simone, Vestnik, Zavod za varstvo kulturne dediščine, Ljubljana 2011.