The Arch of Galerius — known locally as the Kamara — stands astride the ancient Via Egnatia at Navarinou Square, the ruined lower portion of a once-vast triumphal monument built by the Roman co-emperor around 300 AD. Originally, two arches framed by four pillars spanned the road; now only one arch and two of the piers survive, their marble cladding long gone but the sculptural reliefs cut into the brick core still sharp and readable in the afternoon light.
Walk around and look closely at the carvings: they tell the story of Galerius's victorious campaign against the Sassanid Persians in bands of military narrative — charging cavalry, supplicating prisoners, the emperor larger-than-life at the centre of each scene. The arch stands a short walk from the Rotunda, which Galerius also commissioned as part of the same ambitious building programme, and together they mark what was once the imperial palace quarter of a city that briefly rivalled Rome in importance.