Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (16.2004(2005))

ALEXANDRIA

EGYPT

graphy, this wall was dismantled, the fill
cleared and the lateral walls of the chamber
inspected for damages. Disintegrated blocks
were replaced with new ones and the voids
were filled with new mortar, making the
construction structurally sound again. Since
all the extant stone elements of the original
vault were either heavily weathered or
utterly destroyed, it proved necessary to
rebuild the vault with new blocks cut to the
required dimensions. The restored fragment

of the vault is approximately 4.50 m long.
In the next stage of the operation, the
dismantled wall was reassembled in its ori-
ginal position and the outer coating of the
vault restored of smaller, randomly arranged
stones {Fig. 8], The restotation of this vault
was essential in view of the planned visitors'
route that is to run along the southern
facade of the baths. The gap between the
western and eastern part of the passage was
thus bridged.

MOSAIC CONSERVATION

A pressing issue of the season was the
transfer of a floor mosaic decorating the
triclinium in an Early Roman house dis-
covered in front of the Theater.11 Since its

discovery in 2000, the mosaic had been
seriously threatened with seasonal water se-
eping in from the surrounding escarpment,
causing irreparable damages to the sur-


Fig. 10. Transferring the mosaic
(Photo A. Chahiera)
11 Cf. Majcherek, PAM XII, op. cit., 23-34. The fragmentarily preserved multi-colored emblema showing three birds was
preserved and removed in the previous season..

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