In the 1980's the remains of a villa were investigated in the centre of Fiez, to the south-west of the Lac de Neuchâtel. Only a few trenches were dug. The main house was 51 m. wide. The rooms were behind a porticus. Fragments of paintings were found and part of a hypocaust. Ceramics suggest that the villa was built in the first half of the first century and used until the third.
Plan of the remains. A: hypothetical mausoleum and place of discovery of the lion. C: main house. Bossert 1990, fig. 19.Of particular interest is the discovery in 1902 of a small lion of white limestone. It was found in front of the house, together with a large foot of a human statue (l. 0.34) and part of a small column (diam. 0.155). The excavator Victor-Henri Bourgeois believed that the lion had been made in the 17th century. Later research showed that it was Roman, from the late first century or the first half of the second. Bourgeois also noted a groove between the front paws and concluded that it was a gargoyle. A comparison with other statues of lions led Martin Bossert to believe that it had formed part of a mausoleum in front of the main house. Two statues of lions, protectors of the tomb, would have flanked an aedicula in which stood a statue of a deceased owner of the villa. Later Claudia Neukom preferred to think of a gargoyle once more. The matter remains undecided.
Top: a copy of the lion as gargoyle in the village.
Photo: Commune de Fiez.
Centre: the original statue.
Limestone. W. 0.33, h. 0.50, d. 0.77.
Photos: Neukom 2002, Taf. 29-30.
Bottom: the hypothetical aedicula as proposed by Bossert.
Bossert 1990, fig. 18.
Literature
Revue historique vaudoise 94 (1986), 132-133; 98 (1990), 113-114; 99 (1991), 146; Bossert 1990; Drack-Fellmann 1991, 114; Neukom 2002, 62-63.
[7-Mar-2024]
