Argo

France - 05-Dec-22 -

As we already know, these serial locations in Serbia will be inscribed one day as an extension of the WHS that Germany, Austria and Slovakia already share. Without any surprise, the archaeological remains are globally poor and underwhelming (in my opinion, only Hadrian Wall should have been inscribed as the best Roman limes in Europe ; not even to mention the inscription of the different types of limes under different WH properties). We happened to see some of these sites without actually looking for them while touring Serbia in summer 2022, and still they tell something of this distant past that is worth mentioning I believe.

Danube river was the border at that time. The “tabula trajana” is a rock carved text on the order of Emperor Trajan in one of the narrowest place of the valley (we are here in the “Iron gates”, or Djerdap national park, also a TWHS). Dated from 100 AD, it lists some of the official titles of Trajan and reminds that he order the maintenance of the roman road along the Danube, which, at that place, was half carved in the rock and half supported by wood structure, to make large enough. The tabula can only be seen from the water and we came close to it during a short boat trip, which prime purpose was to enjoy the “iron gates” landscape. You could maybe see it from the Romanian side as well : there are small boats operating similarly from there, but they cannot cross the “border” – well, the middle of the river. As we learnt, the water level of the Danube in this area has changed when a big dam was built at the end of the Iron gates (cooperation between Yugoslavia and Romania in the sixties). That means the tabula had to be cut, lifted by a few meters and “fixed” back on the rock to avoid being lost. Remains of the road, if any, are now under water. So, while this “billaboard from Antiquity” is of historical value, it is not in its exact original location anymore. And the inscription can hardly be read.

Further down the river and out of the Iron gates, we had a short stop after Kladovo at the remains of Trajan bridge across the Danube. Well, there stand parts of the first three piles on the now Serbian bank : you would not guess this was part of a bridge. The Danube here is almost one kilometre wide, so you are left with your imagination to marvel at the incredible achievement such a building was at that time. The bridge was used for hundreds of years before collapsing of disrepair. It is depicted on the “Trajan column” in Rome. I learnt on Google maps that you could see similar remains on the northern, Romanian bank of the river. There is a small archaeological museum in Kladovo which is worth visiting. It hosts many artefacts from Roman times along with maps and pictures of roman sites along the Danube, before they were flooded because of the dam.

Finally, we visited the citadel in Belgrade. It is a wide historical site where the numerous rulers of the city have left their prints and buildings, on the edge of last hill of the Balkans, overlooking the Danube and the Sava confluence, with the central European plain starting in the background : a place you are very likely to visit while in Belgrade. The upper part of the citadel has kept its rectangular shape, inherited from the Roman camp. Walls around the hill are made of different layers ; on one side, walls have been “dug” looking for the oldest layers, and on a few meters, remains of the alleged roman wall can be seen – on the wall facing North-East just after going out through Despot’s gate. Obviously not a “must see”, but just look for it as you pass nearby.