Near Sarmenstorf, a bit to the east of the Hallwilersee, at the locality Murimooshau, a villa was excavated on several occasions: in 1859 (by two clergymen, Ucher and Fehr), 1895 (Otto Hauser), 1917-1918 (Seraphim Meier), and in 1927 (Reinhold Bosch). The latter excavation was started because the forest ranger had started to take away stones for the construction of roads. In 1859 four annexes were excavated, of which a partial plan is known. They were apparently destroyed by a fire. In 1917-1918 fragments of paintings, marble revetment and mosaics were found.
The excavations in 1927, with Reinhold Bosch to the right. Photo: Gemeinde Sarmenstorf.
1: winter living room with floor heating; 2: apodyterium; 3: frigidarium; 4: tepidarium; 5: caldarium; 6-7: praefurnia;
8: living rooms; 9: room with a furnace, perhaps the kitchen; 10: stairwell; 11: summer living room with cellar.Plan of the villa. From the information panel.
The main building (58 x 21 m.) was erected on a slope, 240 meters above the level of the valley. The western long facade consisted of a porticus flanked by tower-like projections. The living rooms and bedrooms were in the eastern half. In one of the small rooms remains were found of paintings imitating marble: yellow and black spots on a white background. In the south-west corner baths were installed. The bathing rooms were decorated with marble revetment and paintings, some with vegetative motifs. These rooms can still be seen today.
The bathing rooms. Photos: Wikimedia, Adrian Michael.The finds were sparse. They include a millstone and fragments of glass vessels and window glass. They suggest a date of construction in the middle of the first century. The building was destroyed by a fire at an early date, probably before 200 AD.
Reconstruction drawing of the villa by F. Schaffner. Drack-Fellmann 1991, p. 231.
Literature
Urech 1860; Keller 1864(2), 132-133, Taf. XVI,5; Jahresbericht der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Urgeschichte 10 (1917), 74 and 19 (1927), 98-103; Bosch 1930; Hartmann-Weber 1985, 197; Drack-Fellmann 1988, 498-499; Drack-Fellmann 1991, 230-231.
[25-Aug-2023]
