Mogorjelo

Mogorjelo is one of the most important Roman sites in Bosnia and Herzegovina, located on a hill by a branch of the Neretva, five kilometers south of Čapljina. It originated in the mid-1st century as a private agricultural estate (villa rustica) of a Roman veteran who received the property as a reward for fighting in Dacia.

The estate processed olive oil, wine, and grain. By the end of the 3rd century it became state property, and at the beginning of the 4th century a fortress (castrum) measuring 102 × 86 meters was built, with eleven defensive towers and three entrances, to protect supplies for the Roman city of Narona. The Visigoths destroyed it in 401–403, and in the 5th century a basilica was built on the ruins. It was discovered in 1885 during the construction of the Sarajevo–Metković railway and researched from 1899 to 1903 under the supervision of the Austrian archaeologist Karl Patsch. It was declared a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina.