Fishbourne Roman Palace

Fishbourne Roman Palace ( German "Roman Palace in Fishbourne " ) is an archaeological museum in the southern English town Fishbourne, West Sussex.

History

In the village of Fishbourne in 1960, the remains of a large Roman villa were the construction of a water pipe found, that could be dug up in the following years by Barry Cunliffe in part, is north of the largest Roman villas in the Alps.

Oldest remains here date from the time shortly after 43 AD, when England was conquered by the Romans. It is wooden barracks, which probably come from a military camp. There were two buildings, which were found posts that were close to each other in parallel in several rows. These posts can hardly represent the walls of ancient buildings, instead it is in all probability to supports for a platform. Only at the north end, no posts found inside the building, but only at the location of the walls. In the whole building there perhaps was a granary that had to stand on a raised platform, so that the grain was dry. In the north, it seems to have given an extra room that was not on a platform and where grain or other food could be a loaded and unloaded.

In Neronian period is here apparently a civilian population, and 60 is the first large building was erected in stone. These buildings are poorly preserved, but was a large courtyard and a swimming complex are detected.

The Flavian Palace

The Neronian building was torn down and replaced by a spacious villa which can only be described as the Palace between 75 and 80. The palace was entered from the east through a column decorated gate and a gate hall behind it. Four pillars adorned the facade and four others were in the actual hall. At the end of the hall there was a large pool of water. From there one could reach a large garden, grouped around the the entire building complex.

The West Wing, located just opposite the entrance, was undoubtedly the center of the plant. The importance of this part of the building is also reflected in the fact that was built on a 1.5 m high terrace. Unfortunately, it also meant that this part of the building was exposed to the elements over the centuries particularly strong and therefore worse than other parts is preserved. Center of the west wing was a large hall placed exactly in the axis of the building, opposite the entrance. She was 10.6 m × 9.4 m tall with a 6 m wide apse at the rear wall. The floor of this hall was badly damaged, but there were small fragments of a mosaic floor with particularly small stones, which show that a mosaic of special high quality has been moved here. On the walls of the apse once stood a wooden bench, whose prints could still be observed on the wall. The façade of this hall was decorated by four pillars that were once probably 7.6 m high. There was also a staircase leading to the terrace of the west wing. This hall was the center of the west wing of the palace. Only the northern parts of the Audience Hall are so far excavated. It is a series of rooms, all equipped with geometric black-and- white mosaics. There can be distinguished two space groups that were not connected to each other, but apparently had doors to the garden. The rooms were once painted rich.

West Wing

The West Wing was the center of the palace complex. He was the part of the plant that was seen immediately, and probably also the part in which were the main administrative offices. This part has been built on slightly higher ground and thus towered over the rest of the system by slightly more than one meter. Slightly more than half of the rooms could be excavated. The elevated position of this part of the palace was less protected by the earth and thus the farming in the Middle Ages particularly exposed, so it is relatively poorly preserved.

The center of the west wing formed a hall with an apse, exactly in the axis of the palace, opposite the main entrance, was. It is likely to have acted with some certainty to the audience hall. The floor of the hall was once a mosaic, from which, however, only found a few remnants. These show very small tesserae and thus indicate a high level of quality.

North Wing

The north wing was composed of a large number of rooms (N1- N24 ), grouped around two Peristyle. The Peristyle in turn, opened in the south to the large central garden of the palace. The northern wing were apparently several richly appointed accommodation units. The first of these consisted of five rooms (N1- N5). The largest room (N1 ) was once equipped with a black and white geometric mosaic, of which, however, only a few remnants remain, since the mosaic in the second century hypocaust were built. Another room (N3 ) and was designed with a black and white geometric mosaic. Here one finds squares are filled with at least three types of patterns and interconnected by a network of lines. A third space in this residential wing shows a simple pattern of black squares and white rectangles.

East of this living quarters was the first peristyle and on the north side, another large room (N7 ), which was flanked by two small narrow areas. In the large room, it may well have been a dining room. The function of the two small flanking rooms is unknown, but it will have acted to rooms that were connected with the large dining room. The large room was decorated with a mosaic that showed 16 squares in the center, which were filled with different patterns. The framing shows a wall with gates. From the rubble that filled the room, come remains of a stucco frieze, probably finished the wall to the ceiling. It in each case is a pair of birds from a vessel. Among them is a so-called string of pearls. Such stucco friezes are known from Italy, but so far is only in this palace in Britain and underline the particular importance of this plant. This room was decorated with inlaid marble panels. The marble used came from almost all parts of the Roman Empire. There was Purbeck marble, a gray marble, perhaps from the Isle of Purbeck. Other varieties came from what is now Turkey, but also from Greece from the island of Skyros.

Mosaic of space N3

Mosaic of space N7

Fragment of stucco frieze

The average residential unit ( N9 - N14) has in the center an L-shaped room / corridor (N14 ), from which once opened the entrances to the actual living spaces. The floor of this corridor was once decorated with a mosaic, from which, however, only found minimal residues. The same is true for the three smaller rooms in the north of the corridor. Noteworthy are the murals of space N9, still found in large fragments on the floor and probably date the Flavian period and thus belong to the original equipment of the palace. The paintings showed an approximately one meter high pedestal, the impersonated pink - red marble. This painted marble was separated from black boxes. The main wall showed a decoration fields, the fields turn a colorful marble copied, while the other showed a rather simple marble in orange. Space N10 was the middle of the three northern and seems once to have been richly decorated with marble. The two southern rooms were designed with a mosaic. From the floor in room N13 today are only small parts to see. Much better the mosaic in room N12 is obtained as never another mosaic was designed. The bottom shows a series of crosses and squares, which in turn are connected by black lines, pretend the vague space. In the crosses are found either rows of triangles or black bars. The squares show several inside pattern. The wall paintings in this room can be reconstructed to some extent, because the walls were apparently not painted over after the Flavian period. The walls had again a base zone, which was painted red and pink and apparently should imitate granite. In panels have been painted again, apparently again copied exotic stones.

Mosaic in room N12

East of the average residential unit another peristyle follows, is next to turn a large dining room ( N16 ). This part of the building was particularly damaged by later changes, which is why hardly anything remains of the original equipment. In the far east, finally, the third residential unit is located in the north wing of the building, which consists of six rooms: four smaller on the west side and two larger in the east. Only three of the smaller rooms, parts of the original mosaic features are preserved. The mosaic in room N21 is black with a geometric pattern in white and red squares. At the edge of the mosaic is a small diamond- shaped stone as part of the mosaic. Maybe that is a signature of the artist. The space N12 served as antechamber for any room N23.

The mosaics

The black and white mosaics of the palace are among the earliest in England, and perhaps have been made ​​by a workshop or a craftsman from Italy. They have few comparative examples in England. A mosaic is a very similar from Besancon and underlines the assumption that the craftsmen came from outside.

Owner

The owner of the plant was almost certainly King Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus. This is mentioned by Tacitus as a vassal king under Vespasian in Britain and is also an inscription that was found in the neighboring Chichester, which was its capital well known.

After the death of Cogidubnus management in this area is completely passed into Roman hands. The palace was therefore no longer needed and it can be observed, in fact, various alterations, which suggest the building to different owners who shared the building, went over. To 280 burned down the building and has never been rebuilt.

Others

The villa is the setting of a novel by Lindsey Davis (A Body in the Bath House; German " A corpse in the bath house " ), which takes up the skeleton Fund at the hypocaust of Fishbourne.