DRAFT

Rural Villa in Bad Kreuznach

Contributor: June Dorsch
Published: 2021-04-21
Modified: 2025-06-29

Location

Garden

Rural Villa in Bad Kreuznach

Keywords

Garden Description

This villa, almost 6000 square meters in size, gives eloquent testimony to the wealth and status of the owner of the rural estate. The estate was built in the second half of the 2nd century and occupied until its destruction around 275.

The three-storied villa with more than 50 rooms on the ground floor alone, many decorated with mosaics and imported marble revetment, was centered on a colonnaded garden courtyard (G in Fig. 1). Many of the sandstone columns from the peristyle, as well as fragments of sculpture from the garden, were found in the courtyard. The house was built into a hill, and the courtyard was terraced on two levels. Around the edges of the garden was a ground level gutter. From the apsed triclinium on the south, with a mosaic floor and a marble fountain in the middle, there was an excellent view of the garden.

At the northeast of the villa was a garden (G in Fig. 1) with a lararium. On the southwest there was a garden (G in Fig. 1) with a fountain. The northern facade had a cryptoporticus below and a porticoed corridor on the story above. The service area of the villa rustica lay in front of the villa to the north.

Plans

Fig. 1: Plan of the rural villa with gardens (G) in the central courtyard and in the corners of the house.
Credit: Plan adapted from Cüppers 1990, fig. 204.

Dates

Second half of 2nd century - around 275

Bibliography

  • G. Rupprecht, "Die Kreuznacher Mosaikbodenvilla. Kurzbericht (Stand: April 1977)," Saalburg Jahrbuch 34, 1977:78-87.
  • G. Rupprecht, "Leben auf dem Land," Archäologie in Deutschland 4, 1986: 36-39. (worldcat)
  • Heinz Cüppers, Die Römer in Rheinland-Pfalz, Stuttgart, 1990, pp.321-323, fig. 204. (worldcat)

Places

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