1.
Roman villa
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A Roman villa was a country house built for the upper class in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. The villa rustica centered on the villa itself, perhaps only seasonally occupied, under the Empire a concentration of Imperial villas grew up near the Bay of Naples, especially on the Isle of Capri, at Monte Circeo on the coast and at Antium. Wealthy Romans escaped the heat in the hills round Rome. Cicero allegedly possessed no fewer than seven villas, the oldest of them, Pliny the Younger had three or four, of which the example near Laurentium is the best known from his descriptions. The Empire contained many kinds of villas, not all of them lavishly appointed with mosaic floors, in the provinces, any country house with some decorative features in the Roman style may be called a villa by modern scholars. Some villas were more like the houses of England or Poland. These early suburban villas, such as the one at Romes Auditorium site or at Grottarossa in Rome, demonstrate the antiquity and it is possible that these early, suburban villas were also in fact the seats of power of regional strongmen or heads of important families. A third type of villa provided the organizational center of the large holdings called latifundia, by the first century BC, the classic villa took many architectural forms, with many examples employing atrium or peristyle, for enclosed spaces open to light and air. Upper class, wealthy Roman citizens in the countryside around Rome and throughout the Empire lived in villa complexes, the villa-complex consisted of three parts. The pars urbana where the owner and his family lived and this would be similar to the wealthy-persons in the city and would have painted walls. The pars rustica where the chef and slaves of the villa worked and lived and this was also the living quarters for the farms animals. There would usually be other rooms here that might be used as store rooms, the villa fructuaria would be the storage rooms. These would be where the products of the farm were stored ready for transport to buyers, storage rooms here would have been used for oil, wine, grain, grapes and any other produce of the villa. Other rooms in the villa might include an office, a temple for worship, several bedrooms, a dining room, Villas were often furnished with plumbed bathing facilities and many would have had an under-floor central heating known as the hypocaust. Smaller in the countryside, even non-commercial villas operated as largely self-supporting units, with associated farms, olive groves, Roman writers refer with satisfaction to the self-sufficiency of their villas, where they drank their own wine and pressed their own oil, a commonly used literary topos. The late Roman Republic witnessed an explosion of villa construction in Italy, especially in the following the dictatorship of Sulla. In Etruria, the villa at Settefinestre has been interpreted as being the centre of one of the latifundia that were involved in agricultural production. At Settefinestre and elsewhere, the housing of such villas was not richly appointed
2.
Archaeology
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Archaeology, or archeology, is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, Archaeology can be considered both a social science and a branch of the humanities. In North America, archaeology is considered a sub-field of anthropology, archaeologists study human prehistory and history, from the development of the first stone tools at Lomekwi in East Africa 3.3 million years ago up until recent decades. Archaeology as a field is distinct from the discipline of palaeontology, Archaeology is particularly important for learning about prehistoric societies, for whom there may be no written records to study. Prehistory includes over 99% of the human past, from the Paleolithic until the advent of literacy in societies across the world, Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through time. The discipline involves surveying, excavation and eventually analysis of data collected to learn more about the past, in broad scope, archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research. Archaeology developed out of antiquarianism in Europe during the 19th century, Archaeology has been used by nation-states to create particular visions of the past. Nonetheless, today, archaeologists face many problems, such as dealing with pseudoarchaeology, the looting of artifacts, a lack of public interest, the science of archaeology grew out of the older multi-disciplinary study known as antiquarianism. Antiquarians studied history with attention to ancient artifacts and manuscripts. Tentative steps towards the systematization of archaeology as a science took place during the Enlightenment era in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, in Europe, philosophical interest in the remains of Greco-Roman civilization and the rediscovery of classical culture began in the late Middle Age. Antiquarians, including John Leland and William Camden, conducted surveys of the English countryside, one of the first sites to undergo archaeological excavation was Stonehenge and other megalithic monuments in England. John Aubrey was a pioneer archaeologist who recorded numerous megalithic and other monuments in southern England. He was also ahead of his time in the analysis of his findings and he attempted to chart the chronological stylistic evolution of handwriting, medieval architecture, costume, and shield-shapes. Excavations were also carried out in the ancient towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum and these excavations began in 1748 in Pompeii, while in Herculaneum they began in 1738. The discovery of entire towns, complete with utensils and even human shapes, however, prior to the development of modern techniques, excavations tended to be haphazard, the importance of concepts such as stratification and context were overlooked. The father of archaeological excavation was William Cunnington and he undertook excavations in Wiltshire from around 1798, funded by Sir Richard Colt Hoare. Cunnington made meticulous recordings of neolithic and Bronze Age barrows, one of the major achievements of 19th century archaeology was the development of stratigraphy. The idea of overlapping strata tracing back to successive periods was borrowed from the new geological and paleontological work of scholars like William Smith, James Hutton, the application of stratigraphy to archaeology first took place with the excavations of prehistorical and Bronze Age sites
3.
Valjevo
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Valjevo is a city and the administrative center of the Kolubara District in western Serbia. According to the 2011 census, the area of Valjevo had 90,312 inhabitants,59,073 of whom were urban dwellers. Valjevo occupies an area of 905 square kilometers, its altitude is 185 meters, the city is situated along the river Kolubara, a tributary of the Sava river. In the nearby village of Petnica scientists found the first complete neolithic habitat in Serbia, in Roman times this area was part of the province of Moesia. Valjevo was mentioned for the first time in 1393 and it was an important staging post on the trade route that connected Bosnia to Belgrade. Valjevo became significant during the 16th and 17th centuries under stable Ottoman rule, at the beginning of the 19th century most of the territory of Serbia rapidly transformed. The Serbian revolution began with armed rebellion, in 1804, the local Serb population had rebelled against the Turkish lords and liberated a large part of Serbia. One cause for the revolution was the killing of two prominent Serbian commanders by the Ottoman Turks, the two well-known knights, Ilija Bircanin and Aleksa Nenadovic, were killed in Valjevo on the bridge over the Kolubara. The settlements development accelerated further in the 20th century, when Valjevo became an important industrial and cultural center, during the First World War the battle of Kolubara was fought in the immediate vicinity. A large hospital for the wounded was in the town, the city suffered widespread destruction in World War II. At the end of the 20th century it was bombed during the NATO attack on Yugoslavia. Apart from the city, Valjevo covers the area which includes the following settlements, According to the 2011 census results. The ethnic composition of the city of Valjevo, The Valjevo mountain range, Divčibare is a plateau in the mountain of Maljen. It has an altitude of 1000 m. It is 28 km from Valjevo and 110 km from Belgrade, the canyon of the Gradac River ends in the town centre. The Gradac is one of Europes cleanest rivers, as evidenced by the presence of otters, the Valjevo mountain range offers clean air, medicinal herbs, forest fruits and wild game. The vicinity is kept free of industrialisation and the soil is unpolluted, hunting and fishing in the mountain rivers is common. The air-spa of Divčibare offers rest and recreation, vrujci Spa has mud baths for rheumatic diseases, as well as a hotel and sports complex with swimming pools
4.
Serbia
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Serbia, officially the Republic of Serbia, is a sovereign state situated at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans. Relative to its territory, it is a diverse country distinguished by a transitional character, situated along cultural, geographic, climatic. Serbia numbers around 7 million residents, and its capital, Belgrade, following the Slavic migrations to the Balkans from the 6th century onwards, Serbs established several states in the early Middle Ages. The Serbian Kingdom obtained recognition by Rome and the Byzantine Empire in 1217, in the early 19th century, the Serbian Revolution established the nation-state as the regions first constitutional monarchy, which subsequently expanded its territory. During the breakup of Yugoslavia, Serbia formed a union with Montenegro which dissolved peacefully in 2006, in 2008 the parliament of the province of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence, with mixed responses from the international community. Serbia is a member of organizations such as the UN, CoE, OSCE, PfP, BSEC. An EU membership candidate since 2012, Serbia has been negotiating its EU accession since January 2014, the country is acceding to the WTO and is a militarily neutral state. Serbia is an income economy with dominant service sector, followed by the industrial sector. The country ranks high on the Social Progress Index as well as the Global Peace Index, relatively high on the Human Development Index, located at the crossroads between Central and Southern Europe, Serbia is found in the Balkan peninsula and the Pannonian Plain. Serbia lies between latitudes 41° and 47° N, and longitudes 18° and 23° E. The country covers a total of 88,361 km2, which places it at 113th place in the world, with Kosovo excluded, the area is 77,474 km2. Its total border length amounts to 2,027 km, all of Kosovos border with Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro are under control of the Kosovo border police. The Pannonian Plain covers the third of the country while the easternmost tip of Serbia extends into the Wallachian Plain. The terrain of the part of the country, with the region of Šumadija at its heart. Mountains dominate the third of Serbia. Dinaric Alps stretch in the west and the southwest, following the flow of the rivers Drina, the Carpathian Mountains and Balkan Mountains stretch in a north–south direction in eastern Serbia. Ancient mountains in the southeast corner of the country belong to the Rilo-Rhodope Mountain system, elevation ranges from the Midžor peak of the Balkan Mountains at 2,169 metres to the lowest point of just 17 metres near the Danube river at Prahovo. The largest lake is Đerdap Lake and the longest river passing through Serbia is the Danube, the climate of Serbia is under the influences of the landmass of Eurasia and the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea
5.
Villa Armira
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Villa Armira is a 1st-century suburban Roman villa in southeastern Bulgaria, located in the proximity of Ivaylovgrad, Haskovo Province. Discovered in 1964 during reservoir construction, it is a historical attraction to the Ivaylovgrad area. It is classified as a monument of culture of national importance, Villa Armira lies some 4 kilometres southwest of Ivaylovgrad. It was named after the Armira River, a tributary of the Arda. Villa Armira, a sumptuous palace villa, is one of the largest and most richly decorated Ancient Roman villas excavated in Bulgaria and it features rich marble decoration and complex floor mosaics, some geometric and some depicting animals and plants. The villa dates to the half of the 1st century AD. The two-storey U-shaped villa spreads over 3,600 square metres amidst a garden, Villa Armira had 22 separate rooms on the ground floor alone in addition to a panorama terrace. The entire ground floor was covered in elaborately decorated white marble, the villas floor mosaics display features typical of Ancient Roman art. The mosaics in the masters chamber depict the 2nd century AD owner with his two children, these are the only Roman-era mosaic portraits to be discovered in Bulgaria, a common theme in the villas decoration is the gorgon Medusa. In the 3rd century AD, Villa Armira was expanded eastward with a triclinium, Villa Armira is thought to have been destroyed in the late 4th century, possibly by the Goths some time around the Battle of Adrianople of 378. The villa itself, with many of the floor mosaics intact, underwent Phare-funded reconstruction and anastylosis and was opened for visitors in 2008
6.
Ivaylovgrad
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Ivaylovgrad is a town in Haskovo Province in the very south-east of Bulgaria set near the river Arda in the easternmost part of the Rhodope Mountains. It is the centre of the homonymous Ivaylovgrad Municipality. As of December 2009, the town has a population of 3,756 inhabitants, byzantine eparchial lists from the time of the 9th-10th century mention a bishops centre by the name of Lyutitsa on the site of present-day Ivaylovgrad. According to John VI Kantakouzenos, his infantry reached the fortress in 1342–1343, the settlement was destroyed by the Ottoman Turks during their invasion of the Balkans in the 14th-15th century. Information about the town during the Ottoman rule of Bulgaria is scarce, much of the Bulgarian population moved from the region due to organized robberies and internecine wars in the empire. Ivaylovgrad is the seat of Ivaylovgrad municipality, which includes the following 50 places, Ivaylovgrad municipality website Ivaylovgrad Info
7.
Hypocaust
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The word derives from the Ancient Greek hypo meaning under and caust-, meaning burnt. The earliest reference to such a system suggests that the temple of Ephesus in 350 BCE was heated in this manner and its invention improved the hygiene and living conditions of citizens, and was a forerunner of modern central heating. Hypocausts were used for heating hot baths and other buildings in ancient Rome. The ruins of Roman hypocausts have been found throughout Europe and in Africa as well. The ceiling of the hypocaust was raised above the ground by pillars, called pilae stacks, supporting a layer of tiles, followed by a layer of concrete, then the floor tiles of the rooms above. Rooms intended to be the warmest were located nearest to the furnace below and he also describes a device for adjusting the heat by a bronze ventilator in the domed ceiling. Remains of many Roman hypocausts have survived throughout Europe, western Asia, excavations at Mohenjo-daro in what is now Pakistan have unearthed what is believed to be a hypocaust lined with bitumen-coated bricks. If it fulfilled a role, the structure would pre-date the earliest Roman hypocaust by as much as 2000 years. In 1984–1985, in the Republic of Georgia, excavations in the ancient settlement of Dzalisi uncovered a large castle complex, featuring a well-preserved hypocaust built between 200–400 BCE. Dating back to 1000 BCE, Korean houses have traditionally used ondol to provide floor heating on similar principles as the hypocaust, on a smaller scale, in Northern China the Kang bed-stove has a long history. With the decline of the Roman Empire, the hypocaust fell into disuse, in Britain, from c.400 until c.1900, central heating did not exist, and hot baths were rare. In the Iberian Peninsula, the Roman system was adopted for the heating of Hispano-Islamic baths, a derivation of hypocaust, the gloria, was in use in Castile until the arrival of modern heating. After the fuel was reduced to ashes, the air intake was closed to keep hot air inside, de Architectura Roman engineering Roman technology Ondol Gloria Masonry heater. Kang bed-stove Vitruvius Underfloor heating About Roman baths, by William Smith, disputing the priority of Sergius Orata Garrett G. Fagans paper Sergius Orata, Inventor of the Hypocaust. Published in Phoenix, Vol.50, No
8.
Baden-Baden
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Baden-Baden is a spa town, located in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwestern Germany. The springs at Baden-Baden were known to the Romans as Aquae, in modern German, Baden is a gerund meaning bathing but Baden, the original name of the town, derives from an earlier plural form of Bad. As with the English placename Bath, there are various other Badens at hot springs throughout Central Europe, the current doubled name arose to distinguish it from the others, particularly Baden near Vienna in Austria and Baden near Zürich in Switzerland. It is a reference to the Margraviate of Baden-Baden, a subdivision of the Margraviate of Baden, Baden-Baden became its formal name in 1931. Baden-Baden lies in a valley of the Northern Black Forest in southwestern Germany, the western districts lie within the Upper Rhine Plain. The highest mountain of Baden-Baden is the Badener Höhe, which is part of the Black Forest National Park, the old town lies on the side of a hill on the right bank of the Oos. Since the 19th century, the resorts have been located on the other side of the river. There are 29 natural springs in the area, varying in temperature from 46 to 67 °C. The water is rich in salt and flows from artesian wells 1,800 m under Florentine Hill at a rate of 341 litre per minute and is conveyed through pipes to the towns baths. Roman settlement at Baden-Baden has been dated as far back as the emperor Hadrian, the known ruins of the Roman bath were rediscovered just below the New Castle in 1847 and date to the reign of Caracalla, who visited the area to relieve his arthritic aches. The facilities were used by the Roman garrison in Strasbourg, the town fell into ruin but its church was first constructed in the 7th century. By 1112, it was the seat of the Margraviate of Baden, the Lichtenthal Convent was founded in 1254. The margraves initially used Hohenbaden Castle, whose ruins still occupy the summit above the town, Baden suffered severely during the Thirty Years War, particularly at the hands of the French, who plundered it in 1643. They returned to occupy the city in 1688 at the onset of the Nine Years War, the margravine Sibylla rebuilt the New Castle in 1697, but the margrave Louis William removed his seat to Rastatt in 1706. The Stiftskirche was rebuilt in 1753 and houses the tombs of several of the margraves, the town began its recovery in the late 18th century, serving as a refuge for émigrés from the French Revolution. The town was frequented during the Second Congress of Rastatt in 1797–99 and she came for medicinal reasons, as the waters were recommended for gout, rheumatism, paralysis, neuralgia, skin disorders, and stones. The Ducal government subsequently subsidized the resorts development, guests included Queen Victoria, Wilhelm I, and Berlioz. The pumproom was completed in 1842, the Grand Duchys railways mainline reached Baden in 1845
9.
Gaggenau
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Gaggenau is a town in the district of Rastatt, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located some 8 km northeast of Baden-Baden, Gaggenau lies on both sides of the Murg River in an extension of the Murg Valley at the Rastatt-Freudenstadt federal highway Bundesstraße 462. The highest point in the area is 750 m above sea level. The urban area extends 10.6 km north to south and 10.3 km east to west, the following boroughs and municipalities border the town of Gaggenau, Malsch, Marxzell, Bad Herrenalb, Loffenau und Gernsbach, Baden-Baden, and Kuppenheim, Bischweier and Muggensturm. The town of Gaggenau today comprises the town of Gaggenau itself, for each district, the area council is elected by the district residents and consists of eight to ten members, with the chairperson of the council serving as mayor. The area councils hear and adjudicate on matters concerning their district, the district of Freiolsheim includes the original town of Freiolsheim, the village of Mittelberg and the hamlet of Moosbronn. The core area of Gaggenau includes the town of Gaggenau, the village Ottenau, the Oberweier district includes the villages of Oberweier and Niederweier. The Bad Rotenfels district includes the village of Bad Rotenfels. The original villages of Hörden, Michelbach, Selbach and Sulzbach were retained as separate districts, Gaggenau was first mentioned in local records in 1243 under the name Gaggenaw. The present district of Bad Rotenfels is even older, having mentioned in a royal donation letter in 1041. At that time, it was placed under the jurisdiction of the Kuppenheim district of the Bishopric of Speyer and it was eventually assigned to the jurisdiction of the Rastatt Office of the State of Baden, which later became the District of Rastatt. In 1691, the area was at the heart of the Palatinate War of Succession and was almost completely destroyed by the French forces. In 1772, Anton Rindeschwender established a successful glassworks factory below the village, in 1895 the factory built the 5-hp automobile Orient Express and entered the new industry of automobile manufacture. In 1905 they renamed themselves the Gaggenau South German Automobile Factory GmbH, in 1907 the company was taken over by the company Benz & Cie of Mannheim until the merger of Daimler-Benz AG in 1926. Thus, the settlement grew, and Gaggenau was eventually raised to the status of a town on 15 September 1922 because of its economic prosperity, in September 1944, the Nazis built a detention camp in the Bad Rotenfels district. Six barracks were built to house about 1,600 men and women, mostly French prisoners, about 500 of them were killed. A memorial plaque has been raised in the meadow where the barracks were located, another memorial was raised in the Bad Rotenfels cemetery commemorating the murder of 27 of those prisoners by their Nazi captors. In the Second World War, about 70% of the town was destroyed, on 10 September 1944,140 B-17 bombers from the 8th battalion of the US Air Force bombed the automobile factory complex
10.
Grenzach-Wyhlen
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Grenzach-Wyhlen is a municipality in the district of Lörrach in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the bank of the Rhine,7 km east of Basel. It has borders to Inzlingen and Rheinfelden and Riehen, Birsfelden, Grenzach-Wyhlen was established on January 1,1975 from the two independent municipalities Grenzach and Wyhlen in the course of the Baden-Württemberg reform of the local governments. First settlements in todays municipality area are of Celtic origin, belonging to the Hallstatt culture in the early 1st millennium BC, the Celtic settlement was followed by Roman settlements and from the 3rd century on by Alemannic ones. The name Wyhlen originates in Alemannic ze wilon, meaning at the farmstead, the Roman settlement was called Carantiacum. From this name todays name Grenzach emerged, in 1982 remains of a Roman villa were excavated. Later on some ruins of an outbuilding were found and archaeologically investigated too,1991 more walls were found, which were restored and are now visible to the public. The first documented mentioning of the settlement was in the 13th century AC, in the late Middle Ages the villages were separated by a national border. Grenzach came to the Margraviate of Baden, while Wyhlen belonged to Further Austria, in the Thirty Years War and in later military conflicts the villages suffered severe devastation. With the founding of the Grand Duchy of Baden Wyhlen also became Badisch, official Website Grenzach-Wyhlen, History & Images
11.
Heitersheim
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Heitersheim is a town in the district Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The name of the located in Heitersheim is Johanniterschule. The city is located in Markgräflerland in South Baden, the city contains older central part Heiterscheim and newer Gallenweiler. The city is mentioned for the first time in Lorscher codex 1810, railway Freiburg - Basel passes through city 1971. Unification with Gallenweiler The Austrian town of Vandans is the city of Heitersheim since 1991. Monastic State of the Knights Hospitaller Knights Hospitaller
12.
Nagold
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Nagold is a town in southwestern Germany, bordering the Northern Black Forest. It is located in the Landkreis of Calw, Nagold is known for its ruined castle, Hohennagold Castle, and for its road viaduct. It takes its name from the river Nagold, which flows through the town, Nagold has a beautiful city centre where half-timbered houses and modern architecture meet each other. The following small villages belong to the district of Nagold, Emmingen, Gündringen, Hochdorf, Iselshausen, Mindersbach, Pfrondorf, the Nagold Basin was probably settled as early as the early Stone Age,2000 to 3000 BCE. With its fertile soil and mild climate in the low mountain ridge, traces of early human occupation from the Hallstatt culture have been found in the Bächle area. The Celts were in the Nagold basin by the 6th and 5th centuries BCE and they were responsible for naming the river Nagold, meaning flowing stretch of water. A Celtic royal burial mound and signs of settlements and graves have been found on Schlossberg. By the 1st century, the Romans had established two settlements in the basin, one of these settlements was unearthed in the 7th century during construction of Remigiuskirche. Stone walls from the remains were used in the Remigiuskirche foundation, the Alamanni expelled the Romans from the Nagold Basin around 260. They emphasized settlement of the valley, and expanded their territory, around 700, the Franks conquered the Alamanni. The Remigiuskirche was built during this time, and it is assumed the Franks established a court in the area, Nagold became the administrative center of the region which extended from Bondorf to Kniebis. Small towns and settlements began to spring up around Nagold, pfalzgraf Rudolf von Tübingen established Nagold as a city early in the 13th century in order to protect his holdings in the northern Black Forest. Through marriage in the year 1230, Nagold came under the control of the Grafen von Hohenberg, by the end of the 13th century, Nagold was encircled with a 5. 5-metre-high wall, complete with moat and gate towers. Around 1350, the Plague devastated the population, construction was begun on Marienkirche church in 1360. The church was razed in 1876-1877, but a tower built in 1401 still stands on Turmstrasse street. In 1363 the Hohenbergs were forced out of Nagold, and the Dukes Eberhard, Nagold then served as a court city, and in 1806 was elevated to a high court city, which lasted until being abolished in 1938. In the 16th century, farmers led to the departure of the local aristocracy. Austria, always looking to expand the Habsburg domain, quickly moved into the Nagold area, herzog Ulrich reclaimed his lands in 1534, and embraced Protestantism
13.
Bietigheim (Baden)
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Bietigheim is a village in the district of Rastatt in Baden-Württemberg in Southwestern Germany. Bietigheim borders on the towns, clockwise beginning from the north, Durmersheim, Malsch, Muggensturm, Ötigheim, Steinmauern. The village is located between the river Rhine and the Black Forest, there is also a valley in the forest, named Hardtwald. The 27 kilometres long Federbach River flows from south to north through the village, the nearest big city is Karlsruhe, c.17 km north of the village. The nearest airport is the Airport Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden
14.
Bietigheim-Bissingen
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Bietigheim-Bissingen is the second-largest town in the district of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany with 42,515 inhabitants in 2007. It is situated on the river Enz and the river Metter, close to its confluence with the Neckar, about 19 km north of Stuttgart, and 20 km south of Heilbronn. Towards the end of the 18th century saw Bietigheim during the beginning of the industrialisation an improvement of the living conditions, the 1806 furnished Oberamt Bietigheim was 1810, however, dissolved again, The city and its official municipalities were integrated in the Oberamt Besigheim. After Bietigheim was connected mid-19th century to the network and the, the city experienced a real breakthrough. At the end of the 19th century there were 3,800 inhabitants, in 1938, Bietigheim came to the new Ludwigsburg. A branch of the Nazi Party was in Bietigheim since 1928, until 1933, this was with 51 members relatively small. After the Nazi seizure of power there were 181 new entrants, by the end of the Nazi regime finally were 939 party members in Bietigheim, representing 10.4 percent of the total population in 1945. Bietigheim-Bissingen station is located on an important railway junction on the Western Railway, line 5 of the Stuttgart S-Bahn and line 5 of the Stadtbahn Karlsruhe both start here. Elbe & Sohn Lamabar - Bietigheim A great, casual cafe in the city center Cube Fitness A visitor friendly, eis Oliver High quality, affordable ice cream salon in the city center. Bietigheim-Bissingen is twinned with, Kusatsu Sucy-en-Brie Surrey Heath Szekszárd Overland Park, USA Saltara, ITA
15.
Eschweiler
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828 First mentioned by Einhard, the biographer of Charlemagne. For some centuries part of the Duchy of Jülich,1678 Completely destroyed except one house and the valuable leather Pietà. 1800 French municipal rights and capital of the Canton of Eschweiler in the French Département de la Roer, the French Cantons of Burtscheid and Eschweiler are put together to form the Prussian Kreis Aachen. 1838 Foundation of the first joint stock company in the then Kingdom of Prussia and its quarters Hehlrath, Kinzweiler and St. Jöris are released in order to form the new municipality of Kinzweiler. 1932 Hastenrath and Nothberg become a part of Eschweiler,1944 Heavily destroyed in World War II, the last coal mine was flooded during the war and never been re-opened. Part of the land of North Rhine-Westphalia. 1960s Complete modernization of Eschweilers downtown and regulation of the Inde in order to prevent the regular inundations, Kinzweiler, after 114 years, comes back. 1970s Eschweiler loses seven quarters because of the brown-coal opencast mining, Erberich, Hausen, Langendorf, Laurenzberg, Lohn, Lürken, every summer the Eschweiler Music Festival EMF takes place. People go to the numerous pubs around the Market Place and in the old-town alley Schnellengasse as well as to the large-scale discothèque Klejbors, Eschweiler is a center of Rhineland carnival. It has more than 20 active carnival clubs, and every Monday before Lent it has the third of Germanys longest carnival processions, antonius Hospital with 443 beds and 13 departments. Every year, there are some 15,000 in-patients and 25,000 out-patients, the Euregio Breast Centre is part of the hospital. Soccer, ice hockey, golf, open-air swimming pool, indoor swimming pool, horse sports, chemical and metal industries, logistics and a lignite power plant. The lignite deposits in the region are former Miocene swamp forest dominated by Castanopsis, such plants do not occur naturally in Europe. A type of wood has been described from logs found in Eschweiler mines. Eschweiler has six stations, Eschweiler Hauptbahnhof, Eschweiler-Aue, Eschweiler-West, Eschweiler-Talbahnhof, Eschweiler-Nothberg, Eschweiler-Weisweiler. Eschweiler has two bus terminals and bus lines in quarter and in its whole vicinity. Autobahn exits on the A4 include Eschweiler-West, Eschweiler-Ost and Weisweiler, the city can be reached also by three exits on the A44, Aldenhoven, Alsdorf and Broichweiden. in Duisburg in 1867, and later on other steelworks
16.
Hambach surface mine
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The Tagebau Hambach is a large open-pit mine in Niederzier and Elsdorf, North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany. It is operated by RWE and used for mining lignite, begun in 1978, the mine currently has a size of 33.89 km² and is planned to eventually have a size of 85 km². It is the deepest open pit mine with respect to sea level, Tagebau Garzweiler Information on Tagebau Hambach on the RWE website
17.
Bad Kreuznach
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Bad Kreuznach is a town in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It does not lie within any Verbandsgemeinde, even though it is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde, Bad Kreuznach is a spa town and the seat of several courts as well as federal and state authorities. Bad Kreuznach is also officially a große kreisangehörige Stadt, meaning that it not have the district-level powers that kreisfreie Städte enjoy. It is, nonetheless, the seat, and also the seat of the state chamber of commerce for Rhineland-Palatinate. It is classed as a centre with some functions of an upper centre, making it the administrative, cultural. Moreover, the town and the areas are renowned both nationally and internationally for their wines, especially from the Riesling, Silvaner and Müller-Thurgau grape varieties. Bad Kreuznach lies between the Hunsrück, Rhenish Hesse and the North Palatine Uplands some 14 km southsouthwest of Bingen am Rhein and it lies at the mouth of the Ellerbach where it empties into the lower Nahe. Bad Kreuznachs outlying Ortsbezirke or Stadtteile are Bosenheim, Ippesheim, Planig, Winzenheim, yearly precipitation in Bad Kreuznach amounts to 517 mm, which is very low, falling into the lowest third of the precipitation chart for all Germany. Only at 5% of the German Weather Services weather stations are lower figures recorded. The most rainfall comes in June, in that month, precipitation is 1.8 times what it is in January. At only 7% of the stations are lower seasonal swings recorded. As early as the 5th century BC, there is evidence that there was a Celtic settlement within what are now Bad Kreuznachs town limits. Kreuznach lay on the Roman road that led from Metz by way of the Saar crossing near Dillingen-Pachten, about AD250, an enormous, luxurious palace, unique to the lands north of the Alps, was built, in the style of a peristyle villa. It contained 50 rooms on the floor alone. Spolia found near the Heidenmauer have led to the conclusion there were a temple to either Mercury or both Mercury and Maia and a Gallo-Roman provincial theatre. According to an inscription and tile plates that were found in Bad Kreuznach, after Romes downfall, Kreuznach became in the year 500 a royal estate and an imperial village in the newly growing Frankish Empire. Then, the towns first church was built within the old walls, which was at first consecrated to Saint Martin, but later to Saint Kilian. According to this note, Kreuznach once again had a documentary mention in the Annales regni Francorum as Royal Pfalz
18.
Roman Villa Borg
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The Roman Villa Borg is a reconstructed Roman villa rustica located near the villages of Borg and Oberleuken in the municipality of Perl in Saarland, Germany. Discovered at the end of the 19th century, the site was excavated in the late 1980s, reconstruction work, which began in the mid-1990s, was virtually completed in late 2008 although further excavation work is still continuing. The site is a popular tourist attraction with some 50,000 visitors per year and it was Johann Schneider, a local schoolteacher, who around the year 1900 first came across the site after noticing unnatural mounds in the area. He soon discovered the remains of walls as well as Roman pottery, partly as a result of the World Wars, little was done until the mid-1980s when the Saarland authorities fenced the site off after illegal excavations started to threaten its survival. Systematic excavation work began in 1987, the excavations soon revealed evidence of pre-Roman inhabitation directly below the foundations of the Roman villa. Not only were there traces of Iron Age structures but also of Beaker culture settlements, tools dating from the Neolithic period were also found on the site. The site is that of a villa rustica or agricultural facility consisting of a palatial residence or pars urbana. There had been little activity on the site since Roman times with the result that the Roman remains are still in very good condition. Reconstruction work was designed to present a representation of the buildings as they originally stood so that visitors could better appreciate archaeology. In addition to the findings of excavation work, similar sites were taken into account as was pertinent ancient, the reconstructed buildings now stand on the Roman foundation walls, revealing their probable appearance in the 2nd to 3rd century. The rose garden and the court garden are also based on Roman models and give an idea of Roman garden architecture with their fountains. The 14th Roman Days were held at the villa in August 2011, including shows of Roman-era historical reenactment
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Nennig
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Nennig is a village in the Saarland, Germany, part of the municipality of Perl. It is situated on the river Moselle, opposite Remich, Luxembourg, Nennig is known for a Roman villa containing well-preserved mosaics that were excavated in the 19th century. The village was a condominium of the Trier bishopric, Lorraine, during the Second World War Nennig was almost completely destroyed as the village changed hands several times in late-1944 and early-1945. Borg, Saarland Media related to Nennig at Wikimedia Commons Nennig official website
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Villa Boscoreale
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The only one visible in situ today is the Villa Regina, the others being reburied soon after their discovery at the end of the 19th century. Also finds from the Villa del fondo Ippolito Zurlo are in several museums, in Roman times this area was agricultural, specialising in wine and olive oil. Information on, and objects from, the villas can be seen in the nearby Antiquarium di Boscoreale and this rustic villa was discovered more recently in 1977 and therefore has been preserved in its complete state as buried 8m below ground level. The villa is a working farm rather than a luxurious estate that others nearby were. Nonetheless an elegant central courtyard is colonnaded on three sides with columns of red and white stucco, large quantities of pottery and farm implements were found. Plaster casts of the entrance doors were made from the hollow spaces left. A plaster cast of a pig found here and killed in the catastrophe was also made and it also includes preserved parts of a wine press. Near the centre of the villa is the cellar in which 18 dolia. An unusual find was an oil lamp dating from the 3-5th c, AD showing that the place was tunnelled into in the later Roman era. The holes in the left by the roots of the Roman vines were found. Although the villa was of relatively modest size compared to others in the area and had no atrium, pool or sculpture collection, evidence in tablets and graffiti shows that the house was probably built in the 1st century. The villa was discovered, excavated, partially dismantled and reburied in 1900. The villa had three stories, complete with a suite and an underground passage to a stable and agricultural buildings. The central ground floor of the living quarters consisted of over thirty rooms or enclosures surrounding a courtyard or peristyle. The building featured a main entrance approached by five broad steps leading to a colonnaded forecourt. Ownership of the villa has been contested, while there is no doubt P. Fannius Synistor did reside there, excavated bronze tablets show another name, that of Lucius Herennius Florus. Many things were marked with seals in ancient Rome to indicate possession and it is believed that since the tablet with the letters L. HER. FLO on the front of it was found inside the villa and these two are the only confirmed owners in the early 1st century BC and 1st century AD, though there may have been earlier owners
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Roman ruins of Cerro da Vila
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The Roman Ruins of Cerro da Vila are the remnants of a historical villa in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. Its vestiges lie in the vicinity of the resort and marina of Vilamoura, in the parish of Quarteira. The area around Vilamoura, in which the remains of this Roman villa can be found, has been occupied with human activity for thousands of years, graves dating back to the Bronze Age were discovered in the municipality in the Casão vineyard. The region was integrated into the Province of Lusitania, in reorganized into three into three civitas, Balsa, Ossonoba and Ciuitas, whose capital was either Cilpes or more probably at Lacobriga. Cerro da Vila was situated in the Ossonoba territory and had a port, following its construction, the villa was periodically occupied by Visigoths and Arab forces. A group of silos from the Moorish period, in the interior of the Roman houses, consequently, in 2000, an interpretive centre, under the supervision of architect Fernando Galhano was constructed to support tourism, to be operated by the IPPR. The ruins are located in an area, the archaeological station is situated 1500 metres west of the parish seat in Quarteira. These are the ruins of Roman villa constituted by two residences, baths, necropolis, dams and fish salting stations, of the two residences and baths, the only remnants are compartmentalized walls, including the impluvium, atrium and tablinum. There exists friezes of marble and fragments painted stucco that decorated the walls, two rectangular tanks serve the fish salting buildings. The necropole, which includes the remains of mausoleums and burial tombs, notes Sources Paço, Afonso do, Farrajota, José, Subsídios para uma carta arqueológica do Concelho de Loulé, Sep
22.
Irgenhausen Castrum
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Irgenhausen Castrum is a Roman fort at Irgenhausen, situated on Pfäffikersee lake shore in Switzerland. It was a fort, measuring 60 metres in square, with four corner towers. The remains of a wall in the interior were probably a spa. The castrum is situated on the Bürglen hill in Irgenhausen, a village of the municipality of Pfäffikon in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. Bürglen is a 25 metres high drumlin,400 metres from the shore of Lake Pfäffikon. In the Roman era, along Pfäffikersee there was a Roman road from Centum Prata on Obersee–Lake Zürich via Vitudurum to Tasgetium on the Rhine, to secure this important transport route, the castrum was built. In 1865 Jakob Messikommer succeeded the dating of finds at Irgenhausen, because of his experience in the dating of peat, the castrum was set under federal protection as Kastell Irgenhausen in 1909. In 1957, the land and the castle were sold to the community of Pfäffikon, for the dating of the fort there are two theories, the first assumes that the fort was built at the time of the Emperor Diocletian around AD 294/295. The other theory, based on the Roman coins found inside the castrum, dated the construction from 364 to 375, as early as AD400 the castrum was evacuated and destroyed by Alamanni invaders. The excavations restored a 1.4 metres high wall that has an almost square outline of 60 metres x 61 metres. The fort had four towers, a gate tower on the southeast side. The materials used by the Roman soldiers derived from glacial deposits, furthermore, there is a mixture of sernifite from Glarus, limestone, the walls of the towers measure between 1.2 metres up to 1.4 metres. The main access was from the south through the gate in the middle of the eastern front, the other three sides hade small side entrances. In addition to the remains of the towers and surrounding wall, there were found the remains of stone interior buildings, another building with three rooms has been interpreted as principia, the headquarters of the fort. At the southern corner tower a hypocaust system of a villa rustica from the 1st to the 3rd century was excavated. The other buildings were made of wood and therefore cannot be individually identified, however, some military barracks, a horreum and a praetorium was probably built inside the fort. In the middle of the hill there was a sunken room, most of the relics found inside the fort date from the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD and are thought to be relics of the villa rustica on whose ruins the fort was built. At the present time, a red ribbon in the shows where the Roman wall ends
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Wetzikon
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Wetzikon is a small town in the Zurich Highlands area of Switzerland, in the district of Hinwil in the canton of Zürich. The municipality Wetzikon has an area of 16.7 km2, of this area,42. 4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 17. 6% is forested. Of the rest of the land,27. 9% is settled, in 1996 housing and buildings made up 20% of the total area, while transportation infrastructure made up the rest. Of the total area, water made up 3. 3% of the area. As of 200730. 5% of the municipal area was undergoing some type of construction. It is located near Lake Pfäffikon in the Zürcher Oberland, between Uster and Rapperswil-Jona, the Robenhauser Ried wetland is a nature reserve of national importance and is situated between Seegräben, Kempten and Irgenhausen covering an area of about two square kilometers. Wetzikon has a population of 24,373, as of 2007,22. 1% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. As of 2008 the gender distribution of the population was 49. 2% male and 50. 8% female, over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 18. 8%. Most of the population speaks German, with Italian being second most common, in the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 37. 6% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS, the CSP and the Green Party, the age distribution of the population is children and teenagers make up 23. 1% of the population, while adults make up 62% and seniors make up 15%. There are 7929 households in Wetzikon, as of 2008 there were 6385 Catholics and 7772 Protestants in Wetzikon. In the 2000 census, religion was broken down into smaller categories. From the 2000 census, 45% were some type of Protestant,31. 3% of the population were Catholic. Of the rest of the population,6. 5% were Muslim,8. 7% belonged to another religion,3. 6% did not give a religion, the regional hospital, the Gesundheitsversorgung Zürcher Oberland is also located there. Wetzikon has an unemployment rate of 2. 9%, as of 2005, there were 134 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 41 businesses involved in this sector. 3486 people are employed in the sector and there are 255 businesses in this sector. 7054 people are employed in the sector, with 838 businesses in this sector. As of 200743. 8% of the population were employed full-time
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Bignor Roman Villa
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Bignor Roman Villa is a large Roman courtyard villa which has been excavated and put on public display on the Bignor estate in the English county of West Sussex. It is well known for its high quality mosaic floors, which are some of the most complete and intricate in the country. The villa is situated just north of the South Downs close to Stane Street, about 9 miles north-east of Chichester and this building became the western wing when north and south wings and later an east wing were added. In its final form, the villa consisted of some sixty-five rooms surrounding a courtyard, the latest phase of building involved additions to the north wing, and it is here that most of the fine mosaics are located. George Tupper, a farmer, discovered the villa in 1811 when his hit a large stone. It was almost entirely excavated by John Hawkins who lived at nearby Bignor Park, opened to the public in 1814, it rapidly became a tourist attraction, with nearly a thousand entries in the visitors book in the first nine months. By 1815 the remains of a substantial villa had been uncovered, in 1818 Samuel Lysons read his third and final paper on the villa to the Society of Antiquaries. He had already published a series of engravings of the villa with the help of Richard Smirke and these engravings together with his three papers and his and his brothers correspondence with Hawkins form the only record of the original excavations. Excavations ceased in 1819 after Samuel Lysons death, no further work was undertaken on the site until 1925 when S. E. Winbolt did some minor work. Between 1956 and 1962 Sheppard Frere re-excavated parts of the villa in the first attempt to determine its chronology, the rooms on display today are mostly located at the west end of the north wing, including a summer and winter dining room. The bathhouse is to the south-east, the rooms contain some of the best Roman mosaics to be found in Great Britain, both in terms of preservation, artistic merit and detailing. The Greek-key-patterned northern corridor extends for some 79 ft making it the longest in Britain, fred Aldsworth, Bignor Roman Villa Guide Book Bignor, Trustees of Bignor Roman Villa Trent, V. ISYP, An Introduction to Bignor Roman Villa
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Borough Hill Roman villa
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Borough Hill Roman villa is located on the north tip of Borough Hill, a prominent hill near the town of Daventry in Northamptonshire. The villa’s remains lie within the ramparts of an Iron Age fortress which covers the summit of the hill. The remains of the Roman villa were discovered in 1823 by the historian and archaeologist George Baker, the remains were not fully excavated until 1852 when local historian Beriah Botfield thoroughly excavated and recorded the site. Botfield’s excavations revealed a range of rooms which ran from north to south. It was deduced that the buildings were built over a period of time, the earliest parts of the villa were built in the early years of the Roman occupation. The villa consisted of a storey and was constructed from the local marlstone. The inside walls were plastered, as may have been the exterior, the building had a tiled roof, examples of which can be seen in Northampton Museum. Some specimens of frescoed plaster were found clinging to the remains of interior walls. It was also discovered that the villa had a heating system installed under the building. Hot air from a furnace or hypocaust flowed through the building by means of flues, some of the floors were supported upon brick or flat stone piers which supported the floor leaving a two to three foot gap in which the air flowed. Botfield also discovered a well south-west of the villa, the well was stone lined and in the upper levels of the well a skeleton was found, with bronze accoutrements as well as an iron fibula and hook. A walk across the site of the villa reveals nothing today, Botfield very carefully backfilled the site to its original state. The nature of the construction of this villa, being built from sandstone, bannaventa Piddington Roman Villa near Northampton Roman central heating, the hypocaust Hypocaust How to build your own hypocaust Channel 4 Time Team project
26.
Brading Roman Villa
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Brading Roman Villa was a Roman courtyard villa which has been excavated and put on public display in Brading on the Isle of Wight. In 1879, a farmer called Mr Munns struck a buried mosaic floor while making holes on his land for a sheep pen, captain Thorp of Yarbridge, who was in the area looking for Roman antiquities, helped Mr Munns uncover the Gallus panel the next day. By spring 1880, all of the site on Mr Munns land had been excavated, which was half the villa, excavations were able to continue when Lady Louisa Oglander purchased the other half of the site. Although the site was open to the public by the Oglander estate for years, it was handed over to a charitable trust in 1994 and upgraded with a visitor centre, exhibition, shop. In 2004 the cover building was replaced and the facilities were upgraded. Behind the site is an amphitheatre made from grassy banks. This was recently made from spoil from the building work, oxford University began a five-year excavation in August 2008, with hopes that it would reveal some new mosaics. The Roman 2nd Augusta Legion under Vespasian conquered the Isle of Wight in 44CE, the first simple villa dates from the mid-1st century but, over the next hundred years, it developed into a large and impressive stone-built villa around three sides of a central courtyard. Its luxurious rooms contained many fine Roman mosaics, despite a disastrous fire in the 3rd century AD, the villa was still used for farming purposes for another 100 years. Around AD340, Brading Villa, like many estates in southern Britain, was suffering frequent pirate raids, however, Roman coins excavated at the site indicate that Brading was still occupied until AD395, when Emperor Honorius began his reign. The Villa was used for storing grain for a period of time before finally collapsing in the 5th century. Undergrowth covered the site, and when the land was cleared to be used for agriculture, the villas excavated remains are now undercover in the Exhibition and Visitor Centre. The ground floors 12 rooms all survived, though it is not clear all the rooms were used for. The largest room in the house with its mosaic floor may have been used for special occasions. As there is no evidence of a kitchen, food may have been prepared outside to reduce the risk of fire. Artefacts found within the point to a high standard of living, Samian pottery, jewellery. There are mosaics in five of the rooms in the villa house. As well as patterns, one mosaic features the mythical Orpheus, while another features Bacchus, a cockerel-headed man, gladiators
27.
Chedworth Roman Villa
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The Chedworth Roman Villa is a Roman villa located at Chedworth, Gloucestershire, England. It is one of the largest Roman villas in Britain, the 4th century building included a heated and furnished west wing containing a dining-room with a fine mosaic floor, as well as two separate bathing suites – one for damp-heat and one for dry-heat. The villa was discovered in 1864, and it was excavated and it was acquired in 1924 by the National Trust who have conducted a long-term conservation programme, with new on-site facilities and cover-buildings. It is debated amongst historians whether Chedworth was indeed a farm or in fact a religious hostel, however most currently believe that Chedworth was a private farmstead, inhabited by a very wealthy Romano-Briton. The villa stands in a sheltered, but shady, position overlooking the River Coln in the Cotswold Hills in Gloucestershire and it was located just off the Roman road known as the Fosse Way, and 8 miles north of the important town of Corinium Dobunnorum. It was one of about fifty villas in the Cotswolds, the villa was founded about 120 AD, and began as three separate and modest groups of buildings. During this earliest phase the villa consisted of buildings to the west. In the early 3rd century the west and south wings were rebuilt following a fire, in the early 4th century, the villa was transformed into an elite dwelling enclosing the courtyard. The existing wings were linked by a portico, and an inner garden. The dining-room received its mosaics and the half of the west wing was converted to become a second set of baths. Shortly afterwards the baths in the wing were rebuilt and changed to dry-heat baths. The floors of at least eleven rooms were decorated with fine mosaics, in the late 4th century the north wing was extended with the addition of a new dining-room. The villa was destroyed in the 5th century. The spring-fed pool in the northwest corner of the complex was the location of the apsidal shrine to the water-nymphs. The curved rear wall is 2 metres high and is the original Roman masonry, a Christian chi-rho monogram was discovered scratched on the rim of the pool. Foundations of a Romano-British temple have been excavated about 800 metres south-east of the villa buildings, the remains comprise the southwest and southeast corners of a rectangular building, measuring 16. 5m by 16. 0m. Altars preserved in the villa museum probably came from the temple as did coins, glass tesserae, there was, however, another Roman building in Chedworth Woods about 150 metres northwest of the villa which was destroyed in the construction of the railway around 1869. Finds included coins, hexagonal tiles, fragments of pillars, part of a shell-headed niche, the stone relief of a hunter god with hare, dog and stag, sometimes ascribed to the southeast temple, may have come from this site
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Crofton Roman Villa
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Crofton Roman Villa in Orpington, in the London Borough of Bromley, is a Roman villa which was inhabited between approximately 140 and 400 AD. It was the centre of an estate of about 500 acres, with farm buildings nearby, surrounded by fields, meadows. The house was altered several times during its 260 years of occupation, the remains of ten rooms can be seen today. Two rooms contain the remains of opus signinum floors, and three have evidence of tiled, or tessellated, floors, details of an underfloor central heating hypocaust can also be seen, featuring both channelled and pillared systems, as can small finds from the site. The villa is adjacent to Orpington railway station, and is not far from Lullingstone Roman Villa, near Eynsford, the site was discovered in 1926, when workmen were preparing a driveway for some new council offices, and unearthed some Roman artefacts. Details of their findings were published in a book in 1996, the site is protected within a modern building. Media related to Crofton Roman Villa at Wikimedia Commons Crofton Roman Villa website Local council website
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Fishbourne Roman Palace
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Fishbourne Roman Palace is in the village of Fishbourne, Chichester in West Sussex. The large palace was built in the 1st century AD, around thirty years after the Roman conquest of Britain, the rectangular palace surrounded formal gardens, the northern parts of which have been reconstructed. More alterations were in progress when the palace burnt down in around 270, the Roman villa excavated by Cunliffes team was so large that it became known as Fishbourne Roman Palace, and a museum was erected to protect and preserve some of the remains in situ. This is administered by the Sussex Archaeological Society, Fishbourne is by far the largest Roman residence known north of the Alps. At about 500 feet square, it has a larger footprint than Buckingham Palace, a modern museum has been built by the Sussex Archaeological Society, incorporating most of the visible remains including one wing of the palace. The gardens have been re-planted using authentic plants from the Roman period, a team of volunteers and professional archaeologists are involved in a continuing research archaeological excavation on the site of nearby, possibly military, buildings. The last dig was in 2002, the first buildings on the site were granaries, apparently a supply base for the Roman army, constructed in the early part of the conquest in 43 AD. Later, two buildings were constructed, one with clay and mortar floors and plaster walls which appears to have been a dwelling house of some comfort. These buildings were demolished in the AD 90s and replaced by a substantial stone-walled house, which included a garden with colonnades. It has been suggested that the palace itself, incorporating the previous house in its south-east corner, was built in around c 73–75 AD. Cogidubnus / Togidubnus is known from a reference to his loyalty in Tacituss Agricola, another theory is that it was built for another native, Sallustius Lucullus, a Roman governor of Britain of the late 1st century who may have been the son of the British prince Adminius. Further redevelopment was begun in the late 3rd century, but these alterations were incomplete when the wing was destroyed in a fire c.270 AD. The damage was too great to repair, and the palace was abandoned and it is not known whether the fire was accidental, set by coastal raiders or part of a more widespread period of disruption caused by the revolt of the British emperor Carausius in the 280s AD. The final phase palace comprised four wings with colonnaded fronts. The north and east wings each consisted of suites of rooms built around courtyards, in the north-east corner was an aisled assembly hall. The west wing contained state rooms, a ceremonial reception room. The south wing contained the private apartments. The palace also included as many as 50 mosaic floors, under-floor central heating, ISBN0752414089 Miles Russell, Roman Sussex
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Gadebridge Park Roman Villa
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Gadebridge Roman Villa is a ruined Roman villa in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. A chance discovery in 1962, it was excavated in 1963-68 under the direction of David S. Neal, a second excavation took place in 2000, also under the direction of Dr Neal. From the Antonine Period, c.138 AD, stone buildings were added, and around 300 AD a large swimming pool, the site may have been leveled around AD350 possibly because of its owners support for the usurper emperor Magnentius. It returned to use and was used for cattle pens. Since the excavations the site has been scheduled and is under grassland, Gadebridge Roman Villa Dacorum Heritage Trust, Accessed March 2012 Gadebridge Roman Villa St Albans Museums, Accessed March 2012 Neal, David S. The excavation of the Roman villa in Gadebridge Park, Hemel Hempstead, 1963-8 Yaxley, Susan, amplion Press, Hemel Hempstead Local History and Records Society. Discover how Dacorums largest Roman villa evolved Our Dacorum, Herts Memories Network
31.
Littlecote Roman Villa
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Littlecote Roman Villa is a Roman winged corridor villa and associated religious complex at Littlecote Park in the civil parish of Ramsbury in the English county of Wiltshire. It has been excavated under the direction of Bryn Walters. The settlement may have begun life as a small short-lived military establishment guarding a crossing of the River Kennet and this was replaced by local circular farming huts around AD70 and a Roman-style rectangular building fifty years later. Activity involved baking ovens, malting tanks and grinding stones, after another fifty years, this was replaced by a large two-storeyed winged corridor villa with integral bath suite. This building went through a number of changes over the subsequent centuries, the villa had a number of mosaics and there were detached workshops, barns and a large gatehouse. Around AD360, from evidence, agricultural activity seems to have ended. A large barn was converted into a courtyard and a very early triconch hall was built alongside with its own bath suite, upon its floor was laid a now famous Orpheus mosaic, first discovered in 1727 by the Steward of the Littlecote Park estate. This mosaic is usually interpreted in very complicated pagan religious terms involving not only Orpheus, but Bacchus and Apollo, other buildings may have been converted to accommodate visiting pilgrims. This development has been associated with the revival under Julian the Apostate. Many of the buildings were demolished or fell into decay around AD400, shortly after the Theodosian legislation against paganism, two sub-Roman timber structures have also been identified on the site. Mildenhall, Wiltshire, near the site of the Roman town of Cunetio, a few miles west along the River Kennet valley where the Cunetio Hoard of almost 55,000 Roman coins was found in 1978. Archaeological excavations in Littlecote Park, Wiltshire 1978, first interim report,1979, B Walters and B Phillips Apollo, Beasts and Seasons, Some Thoughts on the Littlecote Mosaic, J. M. C. Toynbee, Britannia, Vol.12,1981, pp. 1–5 Media related to Littlecote Roman Villa at Wikimedia Commons BBC photo article on the mosaics
32.
Low Ham Roman Villa
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The Low Ham Roman Villa was a Roman courtyard villa located near Low Ham in the civil parish of High Ham in the English county of Somerset. It is best known for the extraordinary figured mosaic depicting the story of Aeneas, the site is a scheduled ancient monument. It has been placed on the Heritage at Risk register due to the risks from extensive animal burrowing, the villa was discovered by a local farmer, Herbert Cook, in 1938, whilst digging a hole to bury a dead sheep. Protected from deep ploughing during World War II, it was excavated from 1946 to 1955 by H S L Dewar, the villa appears to have been constructed around AD340 on a gentle slope facing north-east, only about a mile from other villas at High Ham and Pitney. Aerial photography has shown there are a number of farm buildings around a large courtyard, although the excavations concentrated on the residential west wing. They featured the usual suite of rooms with a cold plunge bath. The large 14 foot square mosaic from the floor of the frigidarium depicts the story of Aeneas and Dido, as told in the 1st century BC by the Roman poet, like the villa, it dates to the mid-4th century. The Low Ham mosaic is unique in Roman Britain in providing a story in five panels. First is a scene of Aeneas sailing to Carthage, with Achates lifting from a ship the crown described as a gift to Dido in Aeneid Book I, the next shows Aeneas meeting Dido, with his son Ascanius and his mother Venus. There follow scenes of the couple out hunting, of the couple embracing and it is the earliest piece of narrative art in the country. It was lifted in 1953 and is now on display in the Museum of Somerset
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Lullingstone Roman Villa
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Lullingstone Roman Villa is a villa built during the Roman occupation of Britain, situated near the village of Eynsford in Kent, south eastern England. Constructed in the 1st century, perhaps around A. D. 80-90, the occupants were wealthy Romans or native Britons who had adopted Roman customs. Some evidence found on site suggests that about A. D.150, two sculpted marble busts found in the cellar may be those of Pertinax, governor in 185-186, and his father-in-law, Publius Helvius Successus. The villa is located in the Darent Valley, along with six others, including those at Crofton, the earliest stage of the villa was built around 82 AD. Around AD150 the villa was expanded and a bath block with hypocaust was added. Two marble busts from the 2nd century found in the cellar perhaps depict the owners or residents of the villa, there is some evidence that the busts are those of Pertinax, governor of Britannia in 185-186, and his father. In the 3rd century, a furnace for the hypocaust as well as an expanded bath block were added, as were a temple-mausoleum. In the 4th century, the room was equipped with a fine mosaic floor with one illustration of Zeus, disguised as a bull, abducting Europa. Sometime early in the 5th century a fire destroyed the building, the first discovery of the site was made in 1750, when workers fencing a deer park dug post holes through a mosaic floor, but no systematic excavations were done until the 20th century. In 1939, a blown-down tree revealed scattered mosaic fragments, the building began to leak late in the 20th century and required a major £1. 8m renovation and redisplay project in 2006-08 to make it safe to display fragile objects from the site in it. The dining room, or triclinium, was situated in the centre of the main building, one depicts the abduction of the princess Europa by the god Jupiter who is disguised as a bull, whilst the other depicts Bellerophon slaying the Chimaera, whilst surrounded by four sea creatures. Surrounding these mosaics were smaller images depicting hearts, crosses and swastikas, one room of the building had been used as both a pagan shrine, and, later, as a Christian chapel, one of the earliest in Britain. The original pagan shrine room was dedicated to local deities. Some scholars have theorised that at point the inhabitants focused their worship on household deities and ancestor spirits. Some of the paintings are now on display in the British Museum, according to English Heritage, which maintains the site, The evidence of the Christian house-church is a unique discovery for Roman Britain and the wall paintings are of international importance. Not only do they provide some of the earliest evidence for Christianity in Britain, they are almost unique – the closest parallels come from a house-church in Dura Europus, Syria. Perhaps almost as remarkable as the discovery of the house-church is the possibility that pagan worship may have continued in the room below. A Romano-Celtic temple-mausoleum complex was constructed around 300 AD to hold the bodies of two people, those of a male and a female, in lead coffins
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Newport Roman Villa
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Newport Roman Villa was a Romano-British farmhouse constructed in 280 AD. It is located near to Newport, Isle of Wight, Newport Roman Villa was unearthed in 1926 when garage foundations were laid by a nearby homeowner. The site was excavated and the plan of the villa house was uncovered. Thanks to public interest and the generosity of the developer, the site was preserved and protected by a cover building and it is now a scheduled ancient monument, giving it protected status. Newport Roman Villa was constructed in about 280 AD with local stone including flint, chalk, limestone, the building was roofed with massive slabs of Bembridge limestone which needed large roof timbers to support them. Many of these roof slabs had a shape, pierced with a single hole to take a nail, were found on the site. It is likely the building was the centre of a wealthy estate and it features a well-preserved Roman bath suite with hypocaust underfloor heating. The furnace for heating the bath suite was outside the wall of the villa at the end of the bath wing. The hot air from the furnace passed through an arch at the base of the back wall. It remains unknown when life at the villa ended, during excavation, the skull of a woman in her early thirties was found in the corner of one of the rooms. It has been suggested that she was killed during a raid in an abandoned building, however it is also viewed that the abandonment of the islands villas by the middle of the fourth century could be due to economic hardship rather than the threat of attacks by Anglo-saxon raiders. The villa has since been reconstructed based on archaeological evidence featuring a Roman kitchen and it is now open to the public usually from around April to October. The villa regularly has over 5,000 visitors per year and it is located on Cypress Road in Newport on the Isle of Wight in the middle of a residential development. For 2009 the villa underwent a replacement project, involving essential repairs. The project has been joint-funded by the Isle of Wight Council and English Heritage, the roof has been designed to improve environmental conditions, reducing moisture levels which have contributed to a build-up of algae on the mosaics below. Newport Roman Villa website on the Isle of Wight Councils website - iwight. gov. uk Newport Roman Villa - official site
