SEXAGINTA PRISTA | ANCIENT BULGARIA

Today Ruse is Bulgaria's largest city on the Danube and the best place in the country to see fin-de-siècle architecture – the remains of an economic and cultural boom experienced between the mid-19th and the mid-20th centuries. In Roman times, Sexaginta Prista castellum was more humble, a fortification stretching along the river bank. The name of the castellum can be interpreted as "the port of 60 ships" and indicates that Sexaginta Prista was a major military port.

ruse bunker

During the Cold War a bunker was built on the site of the ancient Roman fortress

Unlike the concrete mess which the reconstructed Novae is, the remains of Sexaginta Prista have been preserved and exhibited much more sensibly. About 50 m from the walls, in the company of temples and the principia (headquarters) of the fortress, discovered during excavations, is the small museum, partly based in a Cold War-era bunker. A reconstructed wooden watchtower and a scaled model of a Roman river ship are the exposition's main attractions. For more, visit the excellent Regional History Museum. There, besides looking at Roman-era artefacts, you can experience history firsthand, learning, for example, how much a soldier's half-yearly salary weighed.

artemis ruse museum