The ArchaeoCulTour trail starts at Vrsar Marina, near St Mary’s Church, at the foot of the historic core of the town, nearby today’s seashore in the north-western corner of the harbour.
Several rooms of a Late Antiquity building were found in 1935 near the Vrsar harbour. One of these rooms had an apse and a mosaic floor with medallions representing sea animals, birds and chalices. Unfortunately, only photographic documentation and the layout of the studied part of the site have been preserved, whose remains are currently obliterated. These features were interpreted as an early Christian church with ancillary rooms, which was desecrated and abandoned in the 6th and 7th century, as suggested by the stone base of a wine or oil press and a fireplace that were found on the mosaic – evidence that the room was used as makeshift residence. However, it has recently been established that the features pertained to a 4th century luxury coastal villa rather than to a church. The room with the apse was probably the central hall, measuring 9.30 x 15.20 m, while the entire complex covered around 4000 m², now situated below more recent and contemporary buildings
In 2011, several more rooms with mosaics belonging to the same building were found during the construction of a new residential property on the adjacent plot. The motifs of beautiful variegated mosaics recovered in another lavishly decorated apsed room are similar to those found earlier.
Representations of sea animals, birds and chalices.
The apse mosaic was made of white, black and red stone pieces (tesserae), had a thin border with wavy vines and stylized ivy leaves, and the whole surface of the semi-circle is covered with a motif of overlapping circles forming four-leaved, black and red geometric shapes on white background. The mosaic of the rectangular room in front of the apse is made of stone, ceramic and multicoloured glass paste pieces. Although only part of the room was excavated, there was probably a band with representations of domestic and wild animals in a landscape (trees, plants) around all four sides, while a segment of the central part was framed by vine tendrils with lush grapes populated by several birds. In the corners of the hall there were architectural motifs, depicting simple buildings, baldachins, columns and domes, typical of garden architecture, so that the mosaic as a whole represents the fusion of natural environment and human-built structures. Some poorly preserved female figures, probable allegories of the seasons, can be discerned among the landscape themes. The central motif suggests this was the centre of the hall. It includes barely visible human figures, a bare-torso woman and a warrior with spear and shield, probably parts of a Greek mythology scene that was typical of Roman mosaic art.
The Roman wealthy landowners often built luxurious buildings on the edge of the shore, while production areas and buildings were situated in the vicinity. Traces of a larger building, a late antique warehouse, have been recorded on the southern coast of the harbour of Vrsar.
