DRAFT

Puymin Quarter,Sanctuary with Portico's,Formerly called Pompey's Portico

Authors: Eric Morvillez , Emilie Chassillan

Permalink: https://roman-gardens.github.io/test-drafts/id/e828f23809/

Published: 2021-04-21

Modified: 2025-06-29

Province

Province Description

Ancient Roman colony (founded 118 BCE) and senatorial province located in modern southern France, along the Mediterranean. This province had stronger cultural and political ties to Italy than the rest of Gaul.

Location

Sublocation

Puymin Quarter, Sanctuary with Portico's

Garden

Puymin Quarter, Sanctuary with Portico's

Keywords

Garden Description

Located to the east of the house of the Laurel-crowned Apollo, 110 meters south of the theater, the Sanctuary with Porticos is not entirely unearthed and continues under the modern city. Constructed in the course of the first century A.D., the monument was formerly interpreted as a public promenade or a the garden of a vast urban domus. Today it is considered a public edifice, a sanctuary connected perhaps to the cult of the waters. Covering 2,000 to 3,000 square meters, it was organized in at least two terraces overlooking an esplanade with porticos having a large, central, ornamental pool which was probably surrounded by plantings. A street-level, covered walkway of Tuscan order ran 52 meters along the north side, elevated 20 centimeters relative to the garden. In the center of this walkway was a room with an apse holding a central pedestal and two symmetric niches for statues.

A stone gutter to catch rainwater separated the walkway from the garden. One entered the garden through a porch having two columns more massive than the others which supported, no doubt, a higher pediment.

In the center of the court was a monumental pool 9.5 meters wide and 1.6 meters deep, as yet exposed for only 3.1 meters of its length. A large apse ornamented its northern end, and its bottom was paved with flagstones. Necks and bellies of terracotta amphora were inserted horizontally into the masonry to shelter fish. In the center of the pool, a masonry construction with walls 60 centimeters thick seems to have supported a small structure with two square rooms 5.25 meters on a side, perhaps a chapel. Stairs go down into the pool on the west side.

Plans

Dates

A.D. 1-100 constructed

Bibliography

Chr. Goudineau, Y. de Kisch, Vaison-la-Romaine, Guide archéologique de France, 1999, 1ère éd. 1984, P. 74-77; (worldcat)
Provost, Michel, Joe͏̈l-Claude Meffre, and Dominique Carru. Vaison-la-romaine Et Ses Campagnes. Paris: Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 2003, P.251-254. (worldcat)