"House of the Surgeon" is a unique archaeological complex located in Rimini in Piazza Ferrari. Today this complex, covered by a huge glass dome, is open to the public. Archaeologists call it "little Pompeii" in the center of Rimini. The finds made on the territory of the complex have already gained fame all over the world - it was here that the oldest surgical instruments were discovered, now stored in the City Museum.
The "House of the Surgeon" was discovered in Piazza Ferrari in 1989 during the work on the arrangement of the city garden. Systematic archaeological excavations immediately began, which lasted until 2006. As a result, an area of ​​about 700 sq.m. was brought to light. The most interesting finds of the complex are the ruins of a residential area in its northern part, facing the coast of the Adriatic Sea (at that time it was a kilometer further than today). The area was framed by two streets - cardo and decumanus. Later, already in the era of Ancient Rome, there was another house here, which was called the “House of the Surgeon”. This two-story residential building was built in the second half of the 2nd century BC. and destroyed in a fire in the middle of the 3rd century AD. Inside it, archaeologists have found large fragments of decorated plasterwork, vases, oil lamps, figurines, bronze utensils and a hoard of about 90 coins. One of the rooms of the house was decorated with colorful mosaics depicting Orpheus. It was in this building that the most complete set of surgical instruments was found, as well as mortars, bowls, measures and vessels for preparing medicines.
Also on the territory of the complex were found traces of a floor covering made from crushed potsherds, the remains of an early medieval settlement, the foundations of some buildings of the 16th-18th centuries, stone wells and a granary, probably belonging to the church of San Patrignano. All these artifacts, now in the possession of the Civic Museum, give an idea of ​​the life of Rimini over the past two thousand years.