Bosnia and Herzegovina (Serb post)
Date of Issue: 24th April 2025
two stamps (2x 3.30 BAM) & 1 souvenir-sheet of 2 stamps (2x 3.30 BAM)
both stamps are issued in two mini-sheets of 8 stamps + 1 vignette
At the one hundred and fifty-ninth kilometer from the confluence of the Piva and Tara rivers and the source of the Drina River, on the bend that the river makes around the Osata mountain range in the middle Podrinje, is the town of Skelani. The region is rich in natural and mineral resources, which contributed to the development of a Roman settlement here from the 1st to the 4th century. Excellent urban planners, builders and craftsmen, the Romans, left behind numerous buildings and monuments, the remains of which can still be seen today. One of the inscriptions mentioning the city council "ordo decurionum" was found in Skelani, which suggests that this was the center of the Roman Municipium Malvesiatium.
The first archaeological excavations in Skelani were carried out by Karl Pach back in 1896. On that occasion, he discovered and explored two early Christian churches, a necropolis and a brickyard, and in the wider area of Skelan he collected over 80 Roman monuments. His further efforts were prevented by the Drina River, which in a major flood buried everything he had collected and excavated.
A hundred years later, archaeologists returned to Skelan. Under the leadership of Mirko Babić in 2008, excavations were carried out at four locations: “Zadružni dom”, “Branko’s Field”, “Baba Ankino dvorište” and in the “Porta of the Serbian Orthodox Church”. Remains of ancient buildings were discovered at all four locations, and the finds of Roman floor mosaics at the “Zadružni dom” site and 30 Roman monuments at the “Baba Ankino dvorište” site were particularly valuable. After these discoveries, the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska declared the archaeological complex in Skelani a cultural asset of exceptional importance. The Public Institution Archaeological Museum "Rimski municipium" Skelani was soon established, with the task of taking care of the protected complex.
In the following period, the villa urbana was almost completely explored, in which a corridor with floor mosaics, dominated by floral and geometric motifs, was discovered. While in a room that has been interpreted as a dining room, a mosaic was discovered whose central motif is a medallion with the image of the Gorgon Medusa.
