The museum of Djemila is located at the entrance of the archeological park in the city of Setif, Algeria. It consists of a garden, a courtyard and three covered rooms. The garden retains capitals, columns, votive or funerary stelae, and various inscriptions.
The museum houses the archaeological finds on the site. It contains many of the wonders dug out of the ground here but the real highlight are the extraordinary number of beautiful mosaics (around 1700 sq metres of them, which together cover all the floors and walls of the museum). Among their number are some considered to be among the finest yet found in North Africa.
Outside the museum building there are many tombstones and other funerary sculptures, the outer walls lined with mosaics salvaged from the site, the covered court housing busts of the emperor Septimus Severus and his wife, Julia Domna.
The mosaics lining most of the interior walls are hugely impressive. Highlights include a mosaic showing a hunting scene; the 10m-long so-called Mosaic of the Donkey, which shows a range of local animals; and the inscription of Bishop Cressonius, a statement of faith lifted from the floor of the South Basilica.
This masterpiece – one of the greatest North African mosaics – is of the Legend of Dionysos, brought from the House of Bacchus and now in the third hall. The design and execution suggest the level of sophistication achieved in ancient Djemila. Also in this last room is a 4th- to 5th-century mosaic of men on foot and horse, hunting lion, boar and panther – note the kneeling hunter levelling his spear at a leaping lion.
In the cabinets, a range of objects found at the site, including medical instruments, door locks, jewellery and pottery objects, help to give an idea of how life was lived.
