The village of Bellikon is located on a slope of the Heitersberg, 15 kilometers to the west of Zürich. The remains of a small villa rustica were discovered in 1934 about a kilometer to the south. They were excavated in 1941 by Walter Drack with the help of 12 Polish soldiers (in 1940 thousands of volunteer Polish soldiers, emigrant workers in France, were able to escape to Switzerland, where they were interned).
Aerial view of Bellikon in 1952. Photo: Wikimedia, ETH-Bibliothek.The villa is located on the slope of the Heitersberg, at an altitude of 190 meters above the valley of the river Reuss. Due to financial restrictions, only the main building was excavated, measuring 26.20 x 16.80 m. On the east side was a hall (1) for cattle and stocks. To the west of the hall were a room (3) and a cellar (4) flanking a staircase (2) that led to hall 1, which was on a higher level on the slope. On the side of the valley was a porticus (6), next to which was a tower-like extension (5). Presumably the porticus and the extension were used as living rooms. In the north part of the porticus an oven for cooking and baking was found. Against the north facade a few bathing rooms were set: an apodyterium (A), a caldarium with a raised floor (C), and a frigidarium (F) with an apse (W) that presumably contained a basin serving as tub. The warm room C was served by praefurnia P1 and P2, while fuel and ashes were stored in bunker B. Against the south side of the building a square trough of sandstone was set.
Plan of the villa. Drack-Gerster-Kuhn 1943, Abb. 4.
The ruins seen from the north. Photo: Drack 1944(1), Abb. 5.Fragments of paintings were found especially in the porticus and in room 4: lines and garlands in various colours were painted on yellow, red and white backgrounds.
Fragments of paintings with vegetative motifs on a white background. Drack-Gerster-Kuhn 1943, Abb. 11.
The finds were taken to the Historisches Museum in Baden. Amongst the objects that were unearthed are fragments of a handmill, a silver spoon, a bronze brooch with enamel inlay, glass sherds, and bones of various animals.
Four building phases could be distinguished. The pottery found in the ruins indicate that the villa was erected in the middle of the first century, and destroyed shortly before 250 AD. Many traces of a fire were found, and the villa must have fallen victim to an Alemannic raid (Bellikon is some 20 kilometers to the south of the Rhine). Today the ruins are buried once more.
Reconstruction drawing of the villa by A. Gerster. Drack-Gerster-Kuhn 1943, Abb. 9.
Literature
Drack-Gerster-Kuhn 1943; Drack 1944(1); Drack 1950, 59; Hartmann-Weber 1985, 164; Drack-Fellmann 1988, 360-361.
[22-Aug-2023]
