Villa rustica (Wasserliesch)
The Villa rustica Wasserliesch is a Roman country house ( Villa Rustica ) in today's center of Wasserliesch , in the district of Trier-Saarburg , in Rhineland-Palatinate ( Germany ).
The location
The villa is located in the area of the market square . It was probably built in the 2nd century AD and was destroyed during the turmoil of the Great Migration , but there are still remains covered with earth. Only the market fountain, designed as a modern work of art, reminds of the villa; it stands at the point where archaeologists suspect remains of the mansion of the villa. The three striking stone columns of the fountain are modeled on the column arcades of the Roman villa. An estate belonged to the Villa Rustica . The entire complex consisted of the manor house with a comfortable bathroom and several farm buildings. After the end of Roman rule, a Moselle-Franconian settlement developed from the complex , namely today's municipality of Wasserliesch with its district of Reinig .
The discovery
The existence of the Roman Villa Rustica Wasserliesch was first revealed in 1857 during construction work to expand the old cemetery , which was built on a low hill in the area of today's market square around the former parish church . The church was probably built on the remains of the villa in the 10th century and stood there until 1920. When the cemetery was expanded, extensive remains of the wall of a Roman bath and many items of equipment came to light, so that a reconstruction of the floor plan was possible. More extensive archaeological excavations were not possible due to other desecration of the graves , according to the annual report of the Trier Society for Useful Research for the year 1857. Even before that, roofing and masonry tiles, masonry, remnants of mortar and wall plaster made of Roman material had repeatedly been found in this area I found time, but cannot assign these things.
The bathing facility extended south to the Liescher Berg as far as today's railway line of the Koblenz-Trier-Thionville-Metz railway line and beyond. During the construction of the railway in the years 1876 to 1878 and around 20 years later when a road underpass was built under the railway line, the Roman bathing facility was again encountered and partially destroyed. Construction workers found various components and furnishings, including an approx. 60 centimeter high Corinthian pillar capital made of sandstone and decorated with acanthus leaves as well as fragments of a limestone bowl, shards of white glass with cut decorations and ceramic remnants of red and black glossy clay dishes of special quality.
When the municipality of Wasserliesch had the old cemetery completely demolished in 1983, extensive building remains of the Roman bath and the mansion of the villa with a sandstone-hewn sewer running diagonally below came to light. How could there have been major parts of the Roman villa destroyed again in 1983?
The then state curator of Rhineland-Palatinate, Magnus Backes , gave an answer to this question when the “StaatsZeitung Rheinland-Pfalz” in Mainz asked him about monument protection . . The issue No. 32 of August 15, 1983 published the interview in which the state conservator the approach of the community Wasserliesch called an "example of failed historic preservation"; Backes spoke of an unusually blatant case, as it should be unique in the Federal Republic . He literally stated: One village - Wasserliesch on the Moselle near Trier - has dredged away its entire history .
Equipment
The remains discovered in 1857 were the first to be described and examined by the cathedral capital and diocese curator of the diocese of Trier , Johann Nikolaus von Wilmowsky . The result of his work was published in the annual report of the "Society for Useful Research in Trier" of 1858. Von Wilmowsky describes the unusual construction and above-average comfortable furnishings of the Roman bathing complex, which was part of Villa Rustica. Its location with a front facing south towards the Liescher Berg enabled optimal use of solar energy . High windows reached down to the floor of the hallway, the so-called Schola , which led around the caldarium (warm water basin). There was a stone bench along the walls.
Von Wilmowsky calls the bathing facility “ marble bathroom ”, referring not only to the oval caldarium lined with white marble, but also to the walkway clad with marble slabs. Even the base surfaces of the walls were covered with white marble slabs, he reports. The basin could be filled via inflows for cold and warm water and tempered as required. A lead pipe that led past the plant to the west, lined with carefully smoothed stone slabs and covered with slabs of the same type, drained the sewage to the Moselle. A heated room adjoining the bathroom was designed a little higher. It could be reached via a three-step staircase, which optically increased the depth of the pool . The floor of this room was covered with triangular white, gray and black marble tablets laid in mosaic-like patterns. The walls were sanded smooth, the stucco cornice above the window and door openings painted white or alternating yellow, white and red.
Hypocaust heating (underfloor heating) was used for heating . The boiler room , the praefurnium , with the kiln formed the basement, so to speak. The kiln was in the middle of the room. The hot air generated by it could get through a channel into the cavities under the caldarium and under the slightly higher bath or dressing room, around the caldarium and through rectangular hollow bricks into the walls. On the stove and on the cover of the hot air duct, clay pots could be placed on different levels so that the water was always differently warm.
The gardens belonging to the villa were laid out in terraces around the front of the bathroom, rising towards the Liescher Berg . There were clay pipes that converged in a well-like container - it was probably a basin with aquatic plants or ornamental fish . In this basin there were remains of column capitals and pieces of a large ribbed limestone water bowl, which seem to have been used for decoration , explains von Wilmowsky. In conclusion, he rates the bathing facility as follows: ... that, as far as we know, no second example of a Roman bath designed in this way has been known and published so far .
The archaeologist expressly emphasizes that he was unable to carry out a more detailed archaeological inventory due to other desecration of the graves . Apparently, this reason did not convince the former director of the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier, Heinz Cüppers . In a contribution to the "Chronik Wasserliesch" published in 1975, he states that the behavior in Wasserliesch was the same as in many other excavations in the Trier region - the recording and securing of archaeological finds was obviously not taken very seriously. Cüppers also compares the Wasserliescher bathing facility with the other Roman villas in the Trier region. I.a. he observes: From all the details it can be seen that this is a house complex, which in the special technical execution of the bathroom, the elaborate decor with marble slabs and wall paintings and the remains of capitals belongs to the group of the richer rural mansions of the Trier Land can be classified ; this also allows conclusions to be drawn about the prosperity and equipment of the rest of the house.
In 1869, twelve years after the first discovery, Domkapitular von Wilmowsky took up his investigations again and published them in the annual report of the "Society for Useful Researches in Trier" of 1870. He helped to justify the incomplete archaeological inventory he had made the otherwise possible desecration of the graves. For this reason in 1857 he only added the floor plan, the cross section and the perspective view of the interesting monument to his report and justified his behavior with: because I foresaw its rapid destruction . The rapid annihilation that quickly ensued actually occurred a little later; he describes it as follows: Soon after our excavation, the local council decided to clear the site and use it for graves. He left the material to the workers as wages. This, a vigorous man with a strong son, broke out the solid limestone walls and smashed the stones that had been extracted to gravel the street. However, they removed the brick slabs of the pillars and occupied the hall and kitchen of their hut. The marble fragments finally they burned to lime and were preparing the necessary mortar .
The second discovery
In 1983, when clearing the old cemetery, extensive remains of the part of the villa complex that had not yet come to light were found. The new finds could only be partially archaeologically recorded this time, because the construction machinery had previously destroyed a large part of them. The only thing left for the employees of the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier to do was examine and document what was left three days after the clearing work began.
The archaeologists uncovered other parts of the bathing complex, which has been known since 1857, including a walled tub the size of a simple bathtub , a second, also walled and heated tub, and the foundation walls of several rooms. Below that was a larger room heated from below, which could have been the dressing room, the apodyterium . The already mentioned sewer ran under some of these rooms. There was also a second brick- walled praefurnium , the vault of which was still partially preserved. The cold water basin, the frigidarium , was exposed adjacent to the dressing room ; it wasn't quite as big as the warm water basin but just as lavishly equipped. The archaeologists secured the well-preserved floor covering made of dark marble and light limestone slabs and brought it to the Rheinisches Landesmuseum in Trier. Right next to the caldarium was an approximately 7.5 square meter toilet room, called a latrine . The sewer running between the two rooms was able to drain the frigidarium and the latrine at the same time.
Probably the largest part of the villa complex was connected to the exposed part of the bathing complex. According to the experts, it could have been the manor house. Since this area had already been cleared before the investigation, they could no longer secure any building remains or artifacts there . However, photos that were taken during the clearing work show that this part covered the entire area under the old cemetery with part of today's market square. The atrium could also have been located here, which is certainly not missing in such a large Roman villa.
The history
The Roman Villa Rustica Wasserliesch and its remains have been partially destroyed again and again in the course of almost 2000 years of local history. Even with the first massive incursion of Franconian conquerors into the Trier region in 275, the complex was likely to have fallen victim to the destructive frenzy of Franconian conquerors. The villa could have been rebuilt afterwards and only finally destroyed in the 4th or 5th century AD with the end of Roman rule. In the period that followed, a variety of activities affected what was left underground. Changes undoubtedly also caused the numerous alterations and expansions of the old parish church standing there, which has been documented for the period from the 17th to the 19th century and whose foundations reached down to the foundations of the villa.
Changes to the historical building material occurred even after its discovery in 1857. In particular, new graves were dug into the foundations of the villa in the new and old cemetery sections, as had been done for centuries. Between 1876 and 1878, when the railway was built and 20 years later when the road underpass was built under the railway, further parts of the Roman bathing complex were irretrievably destroyed.
The final destruction
From 1962, the community no longer used the old cemetery. After the statutory rest period had expired, she had the cemetery hill completely cleared in 1983. With this in mind, the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier, representatives of the Mainz State Office for the Preservation of Monuments, the Trier-Saarburg district administration , the community of Konz and the local community of Wasserliesch agreed in January 1982 on an approach aimed at preserving possible finds and, if necessary, conserving them. Without further consultation, however, they began to do so in 1982. The mayor of Wasserliesch at the time had a bulldozer search for the remains of the Roman villa on his own initiative and without professional support . Immediately after starting work, the bulldozer used hit the sewer of the Roman villa and partially exposed it. After objections from committed citizens, who were directed against the associated devastation of the former cemetery, the work was stopped for the time being.
In May 1983, the director of the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier reminded the parties in writing of the mutually agreed agreements. Without adhering to this, the municipality awarded the clearance work to a civil engineering company after a public tender in July of the same year . The work began, completely surprising for the population, early in the morning on Monday, July 11, 1983. The construction company used a backhoe , a bulldozer and several trucks to remove the debris. The unannounced start of construction and the ruthless way of working of the company, whose employees resisted any attempt to obtain a construction freeze, gave the impression that a fait accompli should be created as soon as possible.
What is certain is that extensive parts of the relics of the Roman villa complex came to light during the clearing work. Trucks immediately brought the finds together with the debris from the cemetery hill, the remains of the graves and the foundation walls of the old church to a disused waste dump for building rubble on the “ Liescher Berg ”. Regarding the procedure, the responsible authority later said that no historical building remains had been found. The statements of uninvolved eyewitnesses and numerous photos taken during the clearing work prove the opposite. The report from the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier also documents the investigations, which unfortunately started three days too late, with the previous processes. Observers have seen that Roman bricks and building remains of various types, especially wall and roof tiles in large quantities, as well as a Gothic door or window arch made of sandstone, which probably belonged to the old parish church, were loaded and transported to the dump for building rubble.
It can therefore hardly be doubted that in 1983 a larger part of the Roman bathing complex, known since 1857, and the manor house of the Roman Villa Rustica were once again found and largely unprofessionally cleared and removed.
On the afternoon of the first day of the clearing work, a committed citizen informed the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier, which, according to its own admission, carried out a “site visit” on the same day. A witness reported that the presence of the preservationists did not prevent the construction workers from doing their work. The next day, the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier, with the support of the Trier-Saarburg district administration, tried to stop the work with reference to an existing change block. But this attempt failed when the local mayor was able to make credible that the deadline had already expired. So was initially cleared away. It was not until the site manager of the community of Konz informed the state museum on the afternoon of the third day that "building remains" were coming to light during the excavation in Wasserliesch that construction was stopped.
The conservationists' activities were completed on August 9, 1983. For conservation, the finds were covered with a layer of earth about 50 centimeters high and the mound was sown with grass. A part of the drainage canal was built over with an event stage with an adjoining showroom in which there is a diorama depicting the battle at the Konzer Bridge in 1675. The drainage canal of the Roman villa emerges from the wall of a building open to the street, designed as a fountain .
The media response
The media became interested in the Wasserliescher events late. Calls from committed citizens who had alerted the local press to the event on the first day of the clearing work initially met with disinterest. When the explosiveness of the events became apparent, reports and columns appeared in rapid succession in regional and national publications. Radio broadcasts and television documentaries on SWR television followed and dealt with the unusual events in Wasserliesch. The tenor was: The municipality of Wasserliesch has dredged away its past and irretrievably destroyed it in a night and fog.
The public prosecutor in Koblenz rejected criminal charges for violating the State Monument Protection Act, which the State Office for Monument Preservation Mainz and a citizen had filed, on the grounds that it was not a criminal offense, but merely an administrative offense . The Trier-Saarburg district administration fulfilled its obligation, initiated a fine procedure and imposed a fine of 900 Deutsche Mark on the mayor of Wasserliesch . Nothing could change the fact that valuable cultural assets had been irretrievably destroyed.
After almost two years, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung took up what was happening in Wasserliesch again. Referring to the unusual occurrences, the newspaper quoted the then ombudsman of Rhineland-Palatinate, Johannes Baptist Rösler . In an interview, he criticized the, in his opinion, completely inadequate regulations of the Rhineland-Palatinate Monument Protection Act. Under the headline “The Wasserliesch case: the historical destroyed”, the newspaper quotes him as follows: It was clear: the mayor, with the approval of the municipal council, had created facts so that aspects of monument protection could no longer stand in the way of the municipality's building plans . Rösler was of the opinion that a fine of less than a thousand German marks was hardly suitable to ensure compliance with the obligations under the law.
literature
- Heinz Cüppers : Wasserliesch TR. Bath building of a manor. in H. Cüppers (Ed.): The Romans in Rhineland-Palatinate. Licensed edition, Nikol, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-933203-60-0 , p. 661.
- Chronicle Wasserliesch from 1975 (municipality Wasserliesch)
- Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung No. 121/1985
- Annual reports of the Society for Useful Research on Trier (from 1857 and 1870)
- State newspaper Rhineland-Palatinate No. 32/1983
- Trierischer Volksfreund No. 37, 186, 213 and 255/1983
UNESCO World Heritage : Amphitheater | Barbarathermen | Igel pillar | Kaiserthermen | Basilica of Constantine | Porta Nigra | Roman Bridge | Trier Cathedral
Temple: Asclepius Temple Trier | Roman temple district Tawern | Temple at Herrenbrünnchen | Temple district in the Altbachtal | Irminenwingert temple district
Grave facilities: Franzensknppchen | St. Maximin burial ground | Burial chamber on the Reichertsberg | Grutenhäuschen
Villas and palaces: Imperial villa of Konz | Palatiolum | Villa Otrang | Villa rustica (Bollendorf) | Villa Rustica (Mehring) | Villa rustica (Wasserliesch) | Villa Urbana in Longuich | Villa by Welschbillig
Other: Civitas Treverorum | Long wall | Stone monuments of Neumagen | Neumagen Wine Ship | Porta Alba | Porta Inclyta | Porta Media | Roman fountain | Roman Ruwer water pipeline | Roman qanat (Mehring) | Roman Qanat (Pölich) | Thermen am Viehmarkt | Treverer | Trier gold coin treasure | Trier saying mug
Coordinates: 49 ° 42 ′ 33.1 ″ N , 6 ° 32 ′ 13.2 ″ E