In Crissier, to the north-west of Lausanne, a large part of the main house of a villa was excavated in the 1960's and 1970's at the locality Montassé. The excavated part was about 100 meters wide and 70 meters deep. From ceramics could be deduced that it was built in the first quarter of the first century, and used until at least the early fifth century. The rooms were arranged between two porticoes (B and P-Q-R). Nearby must have been baths, as indicated by reused heating pipes.
Plan of the villa Rapin 1982, fig. 8.One room seems to have been of special significance: a large cellar reached by stairs (F1, F4). It measured 6.50 x 6.50 m. and was 1.60 m. deep. It was made of well-cut and carefully fitted sandstone blocks. The cellar could have been used for storage, but the accuracy of the architecture suggests that it was a private shrine. Nearby a sandstone relief was found of an enthroned mother-goddess holding a cornucopiae (horn of plenty) and with a fruit basket or a dog on her lap.
Cellar F1 seen from the north. Photo: lausanneantique.ch.
Relief of a mother goddess. Sandstone. W. 0.385, h. 0.38, d. 0.124. Photo: Neukom 2002, Taf. 56.
Literature
Drack-Fellmann 1988, 386-387; Rapin 1982, 39-44; Neukom 2002, cat. nr. 53.
[5-Mar-2024]
