In the 1980's a few rooms of a villa were excavated in Bellach (to the west of Solothurn) at the locality Franziskanerhof. These included a few bathing rooms with a hypocaust. The real interest of the site lies however in the so-called "Venus of Bellach" and, to a lesser extent, in a bronze vessel. The statue is mentioned for the first time in 1656. It had been found 80 years earlier during ploughing at a locality called Champ du Soleil. This must be the area of the Franziskanerhof, which was known as Sonnenhof. However, several remains of villas were found in the area, not just those mentioned above, for example also in Langendorf. Some of these remains are known only from old descriptions, which mention the discovery of marble decoration, paintings, and a bronze statuette. It remains unclear to which building the statue belonged.
The Venus of Bellach. Historisches Museum Blumenstein, Solothurn. Photos: Boss 1983, Taf. 2 and 4.The statue is of the type called Venus Pudica. It is made of Carrara marble from the north-west of Italy. The preserved height is 0.70 m. The head is 0.112 m. high. On the hair are remains of reddish paint. On the back of the head is the place of attachment for a diadem that was made separately. The perspective of the face is distorted, indicating that the statue was meant to be seen from an angle. Perhaps it stood in a niche or aedicula. Several places of attachment of other parts of the statue were polished away after the discovery. Parallels suggests that there was an Amor riding a dolphin to the left of Venus. To her right may have been a vessel covered by a mantle. The statue probably belongs to the Trajanic or early-Hadrianic period. It will have been imported from Italy.
Reconstruction of the statue. Boss 1983, Abb. 4.From the same area comes a bronze vessel, found in 1806. The handle is decorated with a garland from which two objects are hanging down, and with a ram. Perhaps the vessel was used for sacrifices.
The bronze vessel and a detail of the handle. Amiet 1860, Taf. V,12-13.
Literature
Amiet 1860; Boss 1983; Neukom 2002, nr. 9; Schatzmann 2010. Plus: Archäologie des Kantons Solothurn 2 (1981), 93; 3 (1983), 119-121; 7 (1991), 111-112; Jahrbuch der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Ur- und Frühgeschichte 65 (1982), 190-191; 66 (1983), 274-275.
[30-Dec-2023]
