Domvs Romana

The Domvs Romana was found in 1881 on the boundary between Mdina and Rabat, a wealthy townhouse of the first century BC built around a peristyle court. Its mosaic floors are the reason it matters: laid in the Hellenistic manner with very fine tesserae, they include a doves-and-basin panel and geometric work of a quality that puts them among the best surviving in the western Mediterranean. A museum was built over the remains in the 1920s.

What you actually see

• The peristyle mosaics - fine Hellenistic floors around the central court.
• The doves panel - the best-known of the mosaic emblems.
• The house plan - a wealthy first-century BC townhouse of the Roman city.
• The later burials - Muslim graves cut into the site in the medieval period.

When to go

Year round; it is indoors and suits any weather. Mornings are quietest. It closes on some public holidays.

Honest expectations

It is small and the visit is short. Much of the house was destroyed by later building and burials. The 1920s museum shell around it is unsympathetic.

Nearby

Mdina is beside it, and Rabat surrounds it.