Gorsium Archaeological Park

Gorsium Archaeological Park

The Archaeological park containing the former Roman settlement takes us back into the past in a flash with its Mediterranean atmosphere, excavated city walls, streets with lines of columns and its programmes evoking the antique world. The ruins of the ancient town are open to visitors from May to October.

The results of continuous excavations beginning in 1958 are open to research as well as visitors in this exceptionally large archaeological park. In the park surrounding the excavated ruins we can see the stone relics that were discovered and the most important ones are presented in a permanent exhibition. The stone relics, tombstones and mythological scenes found before the excavations were placed along the road. On the main street (de­cu­ma­nus ma­xi­mus) on the left we can see the governor’s palace from the 4th century while on the right we find the barracks of the guards. Inside the early Christian basilica the wall-paintings of an earlier building can be seen. At the crossing of the northern and southern main street (car­do ma­xi­mus) on the left we can find the remains of the 2nd century holy district guesthouse and on the eastern side the other early Christian basilica rises above the ruins of the building. If we travel down the main street from west to east we reach the holy district followed by the main square of the 4th century and finally the forum. Its northern side was closed by a wall separated by steps and ornamented by fountains. The steps lead to the scene of the ceremonies connected with the cult of the emperor and to the scene of the meetings of the province. The eastern side of the square is closed by the great church of the holy district which was raised to honour Augustus (or all the emperors) declared to be God. Further to the east we can find the cellar of the building for the official feasts of celebrations. The road turning south reaches another road lined by columns that leads us back to where we began. If we travel south from here we reach the southern part of the town and its excavated buildings, a 4th century home that was abandoned during the messy times at the end of the 6th century. Since then this part of the town has been occupied by the cemetery. The excavation presents a part of the small huts from the earliest times.

The Park can be reached from the M7 motorway exiting at Szabadbattyán, Gorsium and heading towards Tác-Káloz on road nr. 63. Reaching the village of Tác next to the cemetery the road heading to the left bears a sign of Gorsium and leads to the scene of the excavations. It is four kilometres from the motorway.

Map