Episcopal Basilica of Sandanski

In 1989, during rescue excavations, Vladimir Petkov discovered the Episcopal Basilica. Besides the basilica itself, the complex revealed a baptistery, an inner courtyard or atrium, and buildings associated with ecclesiastical life and rituals in Early Christianity during the fifth–sixth century.
At the complex's heart is a classical three-aisled basilica, impressive for its monumental scale, interior architecture and lavish floor mosaics and wall paintings. It has a single apse inscribed within a rectangle oriented east–west. The building is constructed of rounded river stones with bands of three to five brick courses, employing the Late Roman technique called opus mixtum, or mixed masonry. The naos, the church's central space, consists of a principal nave and two side aisles separated by columns in the Roman Corinthian style. Standing on a stylobate, the columns, including capitals and bases, reached an imposing five metres, while the building's side walls rose to eleven metres.
The central roof ridge reached fifteen to sixteen metres. The marble paving preserves the first ambo discovered in the ancient town beneath present-day Sandanski. Its first step remains in situ, together with the lead joints for the balustrade columns. The presbytery, separated from the central nave by a unique chancel screen, contains Gospel scenes depicted in opus sectile mosaics. The building was the bishop's seat and the effective administrative centre of the town and surrounding Middle Struma valley.