In each Roman military base, the commander had a residence (praetorium) where he lived with servants, and sometimes with his family. Usually it was an extensive and richly furnished villa located in the immediate vicinity of the headquarters (principia). So far, the praetorium has not been discovered in Novae.

In 2004, in one of the illegal excavations at the back of the principia, a statue base of the legionary commander was discovered. After examination, it turned out that the stone bears the career of the senator who must have been the commander of the First Italic legion based in Novae. What is more, another statue base with an almost identical text had been found several years earlier in the residence located in the canabae. Unfortunately, both inscriptions were damaged in their upper parts where must have bee the name of the senator.

The discovery of two identical statue bases for the same person raises many questions concerning the role and function of the buildings where they must have been standing. The residence outside the fortress is currently excavated by the Bulgarian team, while our the location behind the principia is investigated by our team. This area, located behind the principia, in the northern retentura, is referred to as Sector XIII.

Before the start of the project, in 2021, we started preparations for the future archaeological examination in the place where the sceond inscription was documented. The area of 185 sq. m was prepared for excavations. We expected to discover the remains of the buildings which existed there from the 1st century up to the late 6th, as well as and many interesting small finds.