Roman stones from Hernals
The Roman stones from Hernals are four sarcophagi , four stone slabs with relief and painted on both sides, and around four hundred fragments, some of which are also figuratively designed or with inscriptions . They were discovered on August 28, 2003 at Ottakringer Straße 16 in the Vienna district of Hernals during excavation work and were salvaged by the Federal Monuments Office . The finds are currently in the Mauerbach Charterhouse , where they have been examined and restored in the monument preservation restoration workshops of the Federal Monuments Office and can be viewed on guided tours. According to the Federal Monuments Office, it is the most important Roman stone find in Austria in recent decades.
Details of the find
In the area of the construction site, a total of four graves were found, which had been built from the rubble of older Roman grave monuments and suggest a former cemetery at the site. In the strikingly large sarcophagi and stone boxes, which were also surrounded and covered with stone slabs, there were skeletons of tall people whose robust bones show typical riding marks. Three of the people were over 45 to 50 years old, and one woman was probably even over 60. The graves were suspected to be in the early Middle Ages due to the special features . By radiocarbon tests the burials could be dated accurately and 5. Although the late-early 6th century. Glow-through soil and red-colored, sooty stones in at least one grave suggest that grave robbers - still in the early Middle Ages - dug a shaft and set fire in it, in order to then break open the crumbling grave slabs. Roman spoils , which were probably found in the vicinity, were used to erect the graves .
The Spolia: funerary monuments of the Xth Legion
This from sandstone made, imperial grave monuments are in the 2-3. Dated century AD and belonged to members and veterans of the Tenth Legion ( Legio X Gemina ) stationed in Vienna . The mythological scenes on the unusually large, painted panels in relief on both sides, which particularly show Daedalus and Icarus , Dioscurides , Achilles on Skyros and probably also Venus , also fit into the time of the Roman provinces of Noricum and Pannonia . The representations of animal hunts, mythical sea creatures or servants holding boxes and drinking vessels are also part of the repertoire of this time. During the restoration of broken parts were glued with two-component resin, particularly heavy parts are supported with carbon fiber - reinforcements . Artificial stone was only used where it was necessary for stability and it did not make it difficult to interpret the original image.
The painting
The conservators met with its operations carried out with a scalpel and brush work on the stone slabs on several points where the rough sandstone surface relatively thick with a decorated in the colors green and blue-violet Kalkmörtelschicht was covered. Applied red lines were just as useful for emphasizing plastic forms as they were for the modeling artist as auxiliary lines. The earth colors iron oxide, green earth, ocher and soot, which are stable in the lime binder, were used as pigments. The different layers have been connected to each other well and durably thanks to the fresco technique . With careful cleaning, the structure of the brushstroke could partially be made visible again.
literature
- Bundesdenkmalamt, department for soil monuments (ed.): Roman stones from Hernals - Mediterranean pictures in barbarian graves (= restored . No. 2 ). Vienna 2011 ( Online [PDF; 2.4 MB ]).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Archaeological site of Roman stones from Hernals in the digital cultural property register of the City of Vienna, accessed on April 5, 2014
Coordinates: 48 ° 12 ′ 55.3 " N , 16 ° 20 ′ 22.6" E