Fragments of two mosaic floors from Late Antiquity unearthed in Berat, Albania, have been identified as the remains of Christian basilicas. This sheds new light on the urban layout of the ancient city of Antipatrea about which very little is known.Berat is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its unique historic downtown characterized by 18th and 19th century Ottoman structures and urban design, but human presence in the area goes back to the 4th/3rd millennium B.C. and there is evidence of an urban settlement in Berat defined by defensive walls dating to the 7th-6th century B.C. According to Livy, the walls were destroyed and the city burned down by Roman forces under the command of consul Publius Sulpicius Galba in 200 B.C. during the Second Macedonian War.After that, there are no references to Antipatrea in ancient sources until the 5th century, when Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II (401-450 A.D.) was said to have rebuilt the walls and renamed the city Pulcheriopolis after his sister Pulchera. It was an episcopal seat in the Byzantine period, and Justinian the Great built a fortress on the hilltop that would later be rebuilt several times until it fell under the rule of Venetian Republic in 1420.Because of its historically significant urban center and because of its many cycles of destruction and reconstruction, almost no archaeological material from Antipatreas ancient history has come to light. There has never been a systematic archaeological investigation of the citys historic center. The first excavation began in 1973 and continued for two years, focusing on the castle/fortress in the upper city. Remains of ceramic kitchenware and imported pottery from Late Antiquity (4th-6th century A.D.) were found near the castle gate. After that, there was one more excavation of the castle area in 1987 and then no further archaeological exploration.The first mosaic was discovered during construction of a new network of water hydrants in the castle in 2012. It was fragmentary and a burn layer on the surface attested to how the building had met its demise. It covered an area of about 20 x 11 feet and featured geometric designs in polychrome tesserae (white, red, pink, violet, gray and black) and a very fragmentary inscription in Greek that was probably a dedication to the donors who funded the construction of the church.The second was unearthed during construction of a new drainage system under the foundations of the Kings Mosque in the lower city in 2018. It was a much smaller fragment, about 7.4 x 2.6 feet, of a polychrome mosaic created in the opus tesselatum technique. It too showed traces of burning on the surface and a fragment of a Greek inscription.One word is clearly preserved: Theotokos, meaning Theotokos or Mother of God. The inscription mentioning the term Theotokos is an important clue for dating the mosaic. This title took on a central place in Christian theology after the Council of Ephesus in 431.For this reason, researchers believe that the mosaic was created after this event. In combination with other archaeological findings, such as coins found in the layers above the mosaic, including one from the time of Emperor Justinian II, it is assumed that the mosaic dates from the late 5th century or early 6th century AD.While the findings were published locally, the discoveries were only revealed outside of Albanian publications in late 2025 as international researchers studied the documented finds, their construction methods and materials, design styles and inscription fragments. Motifs found in the mosaics intersecting octagons, ivy scrolls, undulating interlaced bands, offset adjacent scales, laced circles, guilloche borders, simple filet borders were compared to decorative models of other mosaics in Albania, North Macedonia and Italy, but researchers believe they were created by local craftsmen. One border element, a dentilled simple filet border with dentiles three tesserae wide, found in the castle mosaic is unique on the archaeological record of Albania.The materials used limestone and terracotta match the sources found in the region. The style is particularly similar to mosaics from nearby sites such as Bylis and Butrint. This suggests that there was a network of craftsmen who traveled between cities and decorated early Christian churches throughout the Balkans.The two mosaics in different locations, the one in the castle inside the old walls and the one in the lower city outside the walls, show that there were at least two churches in the city in Late Antiquity. The significant Theotokos inscription, the rarity of the dentilled simple filet border, the impressive size of the mosaic inside the old walls all point to Antipatrea having been been an important early Christian community. It also lends a new perspective on the Codex Beratinus Purpureus Phi, aka the Codex of Berat, a 6th century illuminated manuscript of the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Mark written in silver ink on purple parchment that was kept at Berat since at least the 14th century. Previous scholars didnt think the highly important manuscript, one of just seven purple codexes was directly connected to the city, that it coincidentally found its way after it was produced elsewhere. The discovery of the mosaics and basilicas is evidence that the city was much more prominent during the time of Justinian the Great than previously realized, and makes it entirely plausible that the Codex came from there.