Roman villa of Freiria

Roman villa of Freiria (Villa Romana de Freiria)
Ruins (Ruinas)
Official name: Villa Romana de Freiria
Country  Portugal
Region Lisbon
Subregion Greater Lisbon
District Lisbon
Municipality Cascais
Location São Domingos de Rana
 - coordinates 38°43′15.8″N 9°19′23.6″W / 38.721056°N 9.323222°W / 38.721056; -9.323222Coordinates: 38°43′15.8″N 9°19′23.6″W / 38.721056°N 9.323222°W / 38.721056; -9.323222
Architects unknown
Style Roman
Material Granite
Owner Portuguese Republic
For public Private
Visitation Accessible with difficulty
Easiest access Located in the valley between Outeiro and Polima
Management Instituto Gestão do Patrimonio Arquitectónico e Arqueológico
Status Property of Public Interest
Imóvel de Interesse Público
Listing Decree 29/90, Diário da República, Série 1, 163 (17 July 1990)

The Roman villa of Freiria (Portuguese: Villa Romana de Villa Romana de Freiria)) is a Roman villa in the civil parish of São Domingos de Rana, in the Portuguese municipality of Cascais.

History

The villa was constructed in the 2nd century.[1]

First archaeological excavations occurred on site in 1973, by Guilherme Cardoso and professor José d'Encarnação.[1] After work completed between 21 August 1985 and September, the same archaeologists determined that the archaeological site was in fact a Roman villa.[1]

In 1985, excavations unearthed a domus, granary and thermae.[1] Further excavations starting on 13 July 1987, financed by the IPPC, with logistical support from the municipal council and tourism bureau, resulting in the definition of a special zone of the villa fructuária.[1]

Vergílio Correia was the first to identify Roman vestiges in the area, when he discovered a Roman tombstone near the local quarries.[1] The discovery of numerous bell-shaped ceramic fragments document the occupation of this area to a proto-historic phase of settlement between the 2nd 4th century.[1] Among these were: the inferior section a windmill, a dog-like gargoyle with barred teeth, needles and bone pins; iron alloys; bronze needle and a ceramic mold with the decoration of a lion.[1] There are also in southern area of the villa with further 2 metres (6.6 ft) stratigraphic layers of further potential archaeological interest.[1]

Architecture

The site is situated in a rural area surrounded by agricultural lands.[1]

It is constituted by a "villa", with the "domus", of which a few floors have been found in the northeast corner of the peristyle (with a covered patio set on columns, around a garden) with a marble column base and fallen capital, and an "impluvium" (square opening in the middle of the atrium that collected rainwater.[1] In the thermae is a water tank, with stones detected suggesting a possible buttress supporting the wall of the tank, possibly being a "natatio" that would simultaneously serve the northern thermal complex and the needs of the villa fructuária.[1]

The surrounding agricultural area includes rural structures such as a barn and winery.[1] The granary, which is large and extremely well built, has buttresses distributed along the northern and eastern foundation corridors, indicating a walled courtyard that used natural slab flooring.[1] Also along the southern edge was an area expressly designed for an earthen oven to bake bread and an altar in honor of Triborunis (an indigenous divinity).[1]

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Noé, Paula (1994), SIPA, ed., Villa Romana de Freiria (IPA.00003186/PT031105060021) (in Portuguese), Lisbon, Portugal: SIPA – Sistema de Informação para o Património Arquitectónico, retrieved 1 May 2017

Sources

  • "Outeiro de Polima - Sondagens arqueológicas no Casal de Freiria", Jornal da Costa do Sol (in Portuguese), Cascais, Porutgal, 29 August 1985, p. 15
  • "Ruínas Arqueológicas em Casal Freiria", Boletim da Junta de Freguesia de S. Domingos de Rana (in Portuguese), 30 August 1985, pp. 1–2
  • "Surpreendentes descobertas em Freiria", Jornal da Costa do Sol (in Portuguese), 14 August 1986, pp. 1/6
  • Cardoso, Guilherme (1986), Cascais no tempo dos romanos (Exposição) (in Portuguese), Cascais, Portugal
  • Antunes, Cristina (18 August 1988), "Visita à Villa Romana de Freiria", Jornal da Costa do Sol (in Portuguese) (1059) (XXIV ed.), p. 8
  • Cabral, João Pedro (1988), "Nota sobre o topónimo Freiria", Arquivo de Cascais (in Portuguese) (7), pp. 45–55
  • Cardoso, Guilherme; Encarnação, José d' (1994), "Villa Romana de Freiria", Informação Arqueológica (in Portuguese) (9), Lisbon, Portugal, pp. 60–61
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