In Grenchen (to the west of Solothurn) the main house of a villa was investigated in 1911 and 1940-1941. After the last building phase the house measured 31 x 32 m. A central hall or courtyard (1; 16 x 13 m.) was surrounded by corridors or porticoes (2, 3, 5, 7). There were three tower-like projections (4, 6, 9). The south-eastern one (4) was reinforced with five buttresses to absorb pressure. The southern one (6) had a hypocaust for heating and was decorated with paintings. To the south of the building was a well with an outer diameter of 2.30 m.
Plan of the villa. Drack 1967(2), Abb. 9.
Model of the villa: front, back, west side, east side. Photos: wiki.stadtgeschichte-grenchen.ch, A. Fasnacht.
Today only a tiny part of the villa can still be seen, in splendid isolation in the fields. The finds were taken to the Kultur-Historisches Museum Grenchen. These include fragments of wall paintings with a red and black background, on which garlands, architectural elements and a figurative motif could be recognized. From the ceramics has been deduced that the building was used from the middle of the first until the late third century.
Left: excavation of an amphora. Photo: Ur-Schweiz 5,1 (1941), Abb. 8.
Right: some vessels from the villa. Photo: wiki.stadtgeschichte-grenchen.ch, A. Fasnacht.
Left: fragments of wall paintings. Photo: wiki.stadtgeschichte-grenchen.ch, A. Fasnacht.
Right: the well in front of the villa. Photo: wiki.stadtgeschichte-grenchen.ch, René Inderkummen.
Literature
Drack 1950, 83-84; Drack 1967(2); Drack-Fellmann 1988, 407; Drack-Fellmann 1991, 133-134.
Plus: Anzeiger für schweizerische Altertumskunde 13 (1911), 133-135; Jahresbericht der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Urgeschichte 4 (1911), 181-184; 32 (1940-1941), 133-134; Ur-Schweiz 4,4 (1940), 72-74; 5,1 (1941), 8-12.
[3-Jan-2024]
