Unfading Colours: A Roman Mosaic from Lod, Israel Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia This exhibition at the State Hermitage Museum is the final stop in the almost five-year-long journey around Europe and America of a Roman floor mosaic of amazing beauty, craftsmanship, size and preservation quality. It will be placed on permanent display at the Lod Mosaic Archaeological Centre. The mosaic was discovered in 1996 in the small Israeli town of Lod. The Lod mosaic is full of unresolved mysteries. The monument dates back to sometime from the 3rd to early 4th centuries, a period when the Jewish town of Lod, being part of the Roman Empire, was inhabited by representatives of different religions,
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including pagans, Jews and Christians. As a result, the mosaic themes and purposes can be interpreted in different contexts, the most popular of which is a rich villa built in the Roman model. The exhibition is accompanied by films, photographs and texts telling both about the mosaic and the amazing history of its discovery, as well as by additional material, that is, a multimedia program that gives the audience a unique opportunity to get to know fine examples of Roman floor mosaic stored in different museums of St. Petersburg within the framework of one exhibition.