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Butrint – a Year On and the hidden mosaic

Tom Winnifrith
Wednesday 17 July 2013

A year ago I was in Butrint, a heritage site in Albania. And this year I revisited the place. The photos from last time and its history I shall not repeat, you can see them here. But there were a few changes of note.

Perhaps the most obvious for me is that I was not accompanied this time just by a rucksack but by my partner. And so, since the site is more or less deserted, whereas a year ago in the main Roman theatre all I could do was photograph my rucksack as I performed on stage this year, I bring you me performing.



And my audience of one

.


Butrint frequently suffers water damage from flooding. Most of the site is at lagoon level and thus I bring you this delightful little terrapin hauling himself out from the stream onto a ruin.

The water threat means that the most spectacular mosaic is kept covered up for nearly all of the time. It is a Byzantine, 6th century classic and last year it was not to be seen. But I got lucky this year and – as you can see – it is truly spectacular.

I urge you to re-read the article of a year ago. It is truly a place to see before you die.

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About Tom Winnifrith
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Tom Winnifrith is the editor of TomWinnifrith.com. When he is not harvesting olives in Greece, he is (planning to) raise goats in Wales.
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