Triconch Palace, Butrint, Chaonia, Albania
Triconch Palace, a private residence developed into a great palace around 400 AD, possibly owned by a senator, Butrint, Chaonia, Albania. The original Roman Villa had elegant rooms with mosaic floors and wall paintings arranged around a central courtyard cooled by a fountain, but after 400 AD it became a grandiose palace with larger courtyard and new east wing, and a luxurious triconch dining room attached to a riversde entrance. Butrint was founded by the Greek Chaonian tribe and was a port throughout Hellenistic and Roman times, when it was known as Buthrotum. It was ruled by the Byzantines and the Venetians and finally abandoned in the Middle Ages. The ruins at Butrint were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992. Picture by Manuel Cohen
