Roman ruins of Cerro da Vila
The villa Vilamoura was a Roman villa near the Algarve coast in Portugal. She lay on the " hill of the Villa " ( Cerro da Vila ) southwest of the town of Loulé in Quarteira, about 25 km west of Faro.
After the ruins were damaged by agriculture, excavations began in 1971. Excavations on the nearly three -acre site and found successively until very recently held, while the eastern portion is designed for today's holiday as a museum. The plant originates primarily from the Roman period, but remained above the Visigoth up in time Arab populated and thus has a more than 800-year history of settlement on.
From the previous construction originate commercial entities a garum production plant in the "Casa dos Mosaicos " in the north of the residential area, including several smaller pools. The Casa dos Mosaicos was designed reptäsentativer in the imperial period and received several mosaic floors. The well-preserved pieces give an overview of the design of the 3rd century AD
In the center of the main residential building in the south of the site is a lined with waterproof plaster pool, around which are grouped the rooms. In the western area of the house, a private bathroom was integrated, which is recognizable to the pillar remains for the heating system ( hypocaust ). Was located on the north side next to the apse of a square room, out of which perform multiple pipelines, it is therefore interpreted as a water distributor. A strong fundamentierter building ( 10 x 5 m ) with a central chamber and five niches could have been used as grave tower of the owner's family.
In the west of residential premises, the "Big Bad" was ( Balneario Grande). The bath complex contained rooms and pools for different cold and warm baths. The water supply was from a reservoir two miles away. The size of this bath house, compared with the main residential building, but had its own thermal baths, has led to the assumption, the thermal baths of Vilamoura could have been used by the inhabitants of other villas or settlements in the area. However, this is debatable. For a prominent feature of the villa, the residues could speak of a port facility, which is located on the shore. The location amidst fertile alluvial land by a lagoon in which flows a river that is a preferred place to settle.
Finds from the system will be exhibited at the museum site. Are particularly numerous finds from Moorish times. Due to the outdoor area with the reconstructed foundations lead signposted paths. With the significant, nearby villa complex of Milreu ( Estói ) of the Cerro Vila forms as a very good example of an important Roman villa complex on the south coast of the Roman province of Lusitania.