Roman villa Loig

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Römerstein on the Loiger field
The Theseus mosaic in the Kunsthistorisches Museum

The Römische Villa Loig is a villa rustica , a Roman country house, in Loig , a place in the municipality of Wals-Siezenheim in Salzburg. It was discovered in 1815, the place of discovery is only documented today by a Roman stone .

History of the villa

The Celtic empire Noricum was founded in 15 BC. Taken by the Romans in the foothills of the Alps without a fight. The Roman Juvavum was built on the site of today's Salzburg , and numerous agricultural and craft businesses have settled in the surrounding area. The fertile area of ​​Wals and Siezenheim was also settled by Romans; where the name Loig refers to the Latin word leug , which means a warm bath that the Romans had installed in their homes. The artistically designed remains of a palatial villa (dimensions 170 by 70 meters) with attached craft businesses were excavated on the Loiger field .

Excavation history

The villa was discovered in 1815 during Salzburg's brief membership of Bavaria ( Salzachkreis ) and initially excavated by archaeologists from the Bavarian Academy of Sciences . The first excavations were carried out by the Bavarian Councilor and Professor Friedrich Thiersch . The excavations were continued by Austrian archaeologists in 1816. A wonderful Theseus mosaic and other late Roman relief panels with depictions of dolphins from the 3rd century AD were found; the latter are exhibited in the Salzburg Museum . The Theseus mosaic was brought to Vienna in 1821 by the director of the coin and antiquity cabinet, Steinbüchl. First it was supposed to be installed as a mosaic floor in the Upper Belvedere , but then it was put into the Kunsthistorisches Museum .

However, parts of the mosaic were damaged during transport, so that the entire floor is not preserved. Originally, the mosaic was 6.36 by 5.5 meters. In the middle it shows the killing of the Minotaur by Theseus. Around it the labyrinth is shown, from which Theseus could find his way out with the help of the thread of Ariadne . The representation of the ship with the companions can be found in the upper part of the mosaic. A grieving Ariadne is also shown here. The labyrinth was framed by a black and white cross-braid and a strip of amazon shields ( pelten ). This Pelten strip was removed in Vienna and a cross braid was inserted in its place, which rotates around the picture. Today's dimensions are only 4.10 by 4.20 meters.

The Roman stone reminds of the uncovering of the villa in Loig. The Loiger fields are now built over with a housing estate. The site of the find has also been documented in the Bachschmiede Wals for the last few years . The site is a listed building .

proof

  1. ↑ New archive for history, national studies and art. First year, Verlag Franz Ludwig: Vienna, 1815.
  2. ^ Friederike Zaisberger: History of Salzburg. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, Munich 1999, p. 248.

Coordinates: 47 ° 47 ′ 17.1 ″  N , 12 ° 59 ′ 24.5 ″  E