Pagëzimorja e Butrintit dhe Mozaikët e saj. The Butrint baptistery and its mosaics

Brief outline of the Butrint Baptistery. It was one of the most important buildings of late antique Butrint, an imposing solitary structure, 100 m distant from the Great Basilica. The excavation and investigation of the Baptistery was begun by the Italian Archaeological Mission, during its first season at Butrint in 1928, and continued in 1974 when the team from the Albanian Institute of Archaeology opened a narrow trench around the structure in order to define its full extent. The 1982 and 1991 excavations remain unpublished. Between 1994-1998 a new survey and analysis of the Baptistery were undertaken by the Butrint Foundation, in collaboration with the Albanian Institute of Archaeology. In 2006, a programme of assessment and conservation of the mosaic pavement was begun by a team under the direction of Jacques Neguer of the Israeli Antiquities Authority, working with the Albanian Institute of Archaeology and the Butrint Foundation. The most remarkable and interesting aspect of the Butrint Baptistery is its floor. It is preserved almost in its entirety. The principal themes of the mosaic of the Baptistery are the water of baptism, the water of life, and the salvation brought to the faithful. A second mosaic covers the floor of the trapezoidal hall adjacent to the Baptistery toward the northwest. The two pavements are certainly the work of two distinct workshops.