The Balkan Heritage Foundation and National Institution Stobi are proud to announce that J.M.Kaplan Fund, USA will continue to support the ongoing conservation at Stobi, North Macedonia through a grant award of $300,000 over 36 months for the project Conservation of the “Theodosian Palace” of Stobi.

The project will be the first serious step towards the implementation of the Master Conservation Plan of Stobi developed in 2019 – 2021 thanks to the support of the J.M. Kaplan Fund. It will follow the Plan’s recommendations and envisions the conservation of one of  the most representative and high priority monuments at the archaeological site. The Late Roman residential building has a peristyle courtyard and covers a surface of approx. 1300 sq. m/ 14 000 sq. ft. The Palace was excavated in the 1920s and partly conserved in the late 1920s and in the mid 2000s. In the 2010s the Balkan Heritage Foundation supported various small-scale conservation and archaeological projects in and around the edifice, and in 2019 it supported the update of the monument’s technical documentation in 2019.

The current project will include conservation and/or re-conservation of the building in collaboration with an international team of specialists in architecture and conservation led by John Stewart and Graham Abrey (UK). The experts will also conduct on-site training for local heritage specialists (conservators, archaeologists and site managers) from N. Macedonia and the region and will summarize its experience in a “best-practices” paper/handbook, including their recommendations for further maintenance of the site. The project envisions the publication of a book about Stobi’s heritage including a well-illustrated catalog of the monuments of Stobi with a history and archaeology introduction,  as an important precondition for further global communication of the site.