Villa rustica (Wachenheim)

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Villa ruastica
View from the north (viewing hill) of the main building.

View from the north (viewing hill) of the main building.

Data
place Wachenheim on the Wine Route
Architectural style Roman estate
Construction year around the 20th or 3rd century AD
Coordinates 49 ° 26 '53.9 "  N , 8 ° 11' 49.7"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 26 '53.9 "  N , 8 ° 11' 49.7"  E

The Villa rustica Wachenheim is a Roman estate near Wachenheim on the Weinstrasse in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate .

View of the reconstructed foundation walls of the main building from the east.
View of the reconstructed cellar from the south.
Two outbuildings from the northwest. In the foreground storage building D (with kiln on the left and smoking furnace from an earlier construction phase on the right), in the background stable building B with residential wing C and sewer heating. In between, late antique stone sarcophagi.

Location and exploration

The facility is located directly on Bundesstrasse 271 between Wachenheim and Friedelsheim and can be easily reached via parking spaces on both sides of the Bundesstrasse. The Schwabenbach runs just to the south in a west-east direction , the courtyard area is already in its lowland.

In 1980, the system was discovered when the vineyards were being cleared. The area was taken out of management and bought by the public sector. With funds from the state, the district as well as the community and the city of Wachenheim, large parts of the foundation walls were restored and are now accessible as an open-air museum . A protective roof was erected over the western part of the main building with cellar and bathing wing.

history

The earliest finds from the villa sector are from the Neolithic Age . The beginning of the Roman settlement is proven around 20 AD, initially with some remains of buildings made of wood. The complex was gradually expanded, the visibly reconstructed substance largely belongs to the well-developed complex of the 3rd century AD. In the 5th century, the main building fell victim to a fire. The complex remained inhabited to a lesser extent until well into the 5th century, as evidenced by some body burials in the area of ​​the storage building. The associated stone sarcophagi are exhibited on site.

investment

main building

The main house or manor house, which was preceded by a U-shaped, three-sided portico , dominates the 1.5 hectare complex . The building has a similar floor plan to the nearby villas in Bad Dürkheim-Ungstein and Ladenburg - "Ziegelscheuer". The facade in Wachenheim reached a total length of 65 m with the portico and the risalit-like side wings.

The main building comprised a hall or an inner courtyard in the western part. The question of whether this part of the building, which can often be seen in the main buildings of Roman villas, is a covered hall or an uncovered inner courtyard, is largely unanswered and may not be generally answered. To the east of this there were two larger living rooms, and to the rear there was a longer corridor. In the west of the main building there was a larger cellar (12 × 4 m) with six window niches and nine arched niches. Behind it, on the northwest corner of the building, was a bathing wing, presumably the owner's bath. It was initially heated from the main building, with the basement system a heating duct ( praefurnium ) was added to the south . The older construction phase is shown in the reconstruction. A stone channel through which the water was drained from the bath has also been preserved.

In a later construction phase, another bathroom was added to the eastern wing, which was probably used by the servants. The outsourcing of such building parts, which were associated with fire, noise and odor nuisance due to heating systems, can be observed more frequently in Roman villas, for example in Hechingen-Stein or the Haselburg near Höchst in the Odenwald. To the south of this wing there is another room, which was also added later and had hypocaust heating .

Outbuildings

Outbuildings were excavated mainly to the east and north of the main building. A large commercial building to the east of the complex served mostly as a stable; in the northern part of the building there was a small residential area with canal heating. To the north-west of it and to the east of today's entrance area was a larger storage building, which overlaid an older smoker and a grain kiln. Another outbuilding was located northwest of the main building in what is now the vineyard. The location of several extensions to the main building and a threshing floor are marked with stone slabs in the outdoor area. Other smaller facilities such as a well, a kiln and a lime kiln have been reconstructed between these buildings. All buildings are provided with detailed information boards that explain the archaeological findings and reconstruct life in the ancient complex.

literature

Web links

Commons : Römische Villa Wachenheim  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ H. Bernhard in: The Romans in Rhineland-Palatinate P. 317-319.
  2. ↑ Britta Rabold: Ladenburg "Ziegelscheuer" - From the Neckarsuebi settlement to the Roman villa. In: Imperium Romanum. Rome's provinces on the Neckar, Rhine and Danube. Archaeological State Museum Baden-Württemberg, Esslingen 2005, ISBN 3-8062-1945-1 , pp. 91–96.
  3. ↑ See also Hans Ulrich Nuber : Villae Rusticae. Roman farms and country estates in Baden-Württemberg. In: Imperium Romanum. Rome's provinces on the Neckar, Rhine and Danube. Archaeological State Museum Baden-Württemberg, Esslingen 2005, ISBN 3-8062-1945-1 , p. 274 with footnotes; Wolfgang Czysz : The civil life in the provinces. The manors in the country: The villae rusticae in the 2nd century. In: W. Czysz u. a. (Ed.): The Romans in Bavaria. Nikol, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-937872-11-6 , pp. 220f.