Mise en page 1 - Site archéologique de Montcaret

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Visit
The mosaics
Information
History
Visit
The mosaics
▲
Information
History
▲
▲
Mosaics in Late Antiquity
Glossary
Mosaic production
Auguste Conil († 1942): director of the
Archaeological Society of Bordeaux.
Gallery: covered passageway linking various
parts of a building.
Pars agraria: the area for farm buildings
on a villa’s estate.
Pars urbana: the residential part of a villa.
Pelta (pl. peltae): a semi-circular shield in
Greek Antiquity.
Scutum (pl. scuta): a Roman shield.
Solomon’s knot: motif made up of two
interlocking rings.
Stylobate: platform supporting a row of columns
or pilasters.
Suspensura: floor of terracotta tiles on which
the mosaic was laid.
Thermal baths: private or public buildings in
Antiquity where people took hot baths in
the caldarium, warm baths in the tepidarium,
and cold baths in the frigidarium.
All of the mosaics in Montcaret are
representative of the 4th and 5th centuries in
south-west Gaul. The craftsmen went around
from villa to villa at the request of the owners.
They used the opus tessellatum technique,
with little cubes or tesserae being assembled
together using a mortar. The tesserae were made
mainly from limestone and terracotta, doubtless
of local origin. The palette of colours is simple,
mainly black, grey-green, white, red, and yellow.
Various restoration programmes have resulted in
modifications, and in the 1950s restorers added
tesserae made from modern materials in pink,
grey, and purple marble to the fragmentary
mosaics.
A decoration typical of
south-west France
The geometrical and plant themes, such as those
found on the floor of the vestibule, were part
of the traditional decorative repertoire of mosaic
makers in Aquitaine during Late Antiquity.
The cruciform room has apses with decorations
made up of fish scales and quatrefoil flower
patterns, which were also a feature of the region.
The aquatic animals in the cold pool are a
decorative theme that was frequently used to
decorate the bottom of baths. But the craftsmen
also employed original design, with for instance
the composition of shields in the entrance to the
thermal baths* 4 and the grid of little flowers in
gallery* 5, which are not known in the Roman
mosaic repertoire.
*Explanations overleaf.
Practical information
Average length of visit: 45 minutes.
Guided tours available on request.
The Centre des monuments nationaux publishes a collection of
guidebooks about French monuments translated into several
languages. Éditions du patrimoine publications are on sale in
the bookshop-giftshop.
Centre des monuments nationaux
Site archéologique de Montcaret
Le bourg
24230 Montcaret
tél. 05 53 58 50 18
fax 05 53 73 26 50
www.monuments-nationaux.fr
crédits photos A. Lonchampt © Centre des monuments nationaux, Paris. conception Plein Sens, Anders. illustration Tout pour plaire. réalisation Marie-Hélène Forestier. traduction InPuzzle. impression Stipa, janvier 2015.
History
Visit
The mosaics
Information
English
Archaeological
site of Montcaret
A villa from Late Antiquity
Inhabited period
This vast villa was built from the 1st century
A.D. onwards and was inhabited until the
5th century. It included a residence and
farm buildings. In the
11th century, Benedictine
monks from the Abbey of
Saint-Florent-lès-Saumur
built a church on the
abandoned site. It was
partly destroyed during
the Wars of Religion in
the 16th century. The cemetery and village grew
up around it, erasing all traces of the villa.
Pierre-Martial Tauziac and
the excavations
A mosaic was discovered in 1827 when a
wash-house was being dug. Then, in 1873,
Abbot Delpeyrat, who was the priest in
Montcaret, noticed a tomb and objects amongst
infill being used to build the station. A child
from the village, Pierre-Martial Tauziac,
collected other finds. Together with
Auguste Conil* he led the excavations
of the disaffected cemetery in 1921, under the
supervision of Jules Formigé, head architect at
the Monuments historiques. The remains of
the villa were listed as a historic monument
on 5 March 1926.
*Explanations overleaf.
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History
Visit
The mosaics
Information
▲
Much of the villa still lies beneath the church
and village, making it impossible to see the
entire layout. Nevertheless, the architecture
and decorations on the mosaics make it possible
to date its period of prosperity to the 4th and
5th centuries. The residential part, or pars
urbana* is luxurious, and laid out around a
courtyard surrounded by galleries* , with vast
reception rooms to the west and thermal baths*
to the east. Remains of wine-making facilities
were found 300 metres east of the church, and
these may well be the pars agraria* of the estate.
A reception
ticket office
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1
Beginning of visit ➤
Around the garden
2
The private thermal baths*
Remains date from the final state of the villa
unless otherwise indicated.
The thermal baths area lay to the east.
1 The cold bath in the frigidarium. The walls of
the pool are covered in terracotta tiles to make it
more watertight. A step running along the wall
made it easier to get in and out of the bath. The
bottom is at an angle to make it easier to drain.
The gutters, which may still be seen beneath the
walkways, were used to allow waste water to
flow away. The bottom of the pool is adorned
with a remarkable mosaic made up of 16 panels
with marine decorations (dolphins, fish, squid,
and so on), the only figurative decorations
on the site.
2 The bath of a prior thermal baths still has its
white marble facing in places.
3 Gallery* has fish scale decoration, and it
led to the thermal baths* . The chevet of the
Romanesque church rests on the walls of the
villa here.
4 The entrance to the thermal baths* has
highly original motifs with Solomon’s knots*
and a composition of scuta* and peltae* .
5 A colonnade used to run around the Gallery* ,
as indicated by the remains of a stylobate* .
Its original mosaic is composed of a grid of little
flowers and Solomon’s knots* .
6 The garden lay at the centre of the villa,
bordered by galleries* 5 and 7.
7 The Gallery* ran along the garden. It is
3.2 metres wide, as is gallery* 5 opposite,
and its northern limit is not known. A gutter
can still be seen to the east. The tombs date
from medieval times.
crawl space. This room had a surface area of
350sqm and is one of the largest known examples
from Late Antiquity in the Roman empire.
10 The vestibule was used as an entrance to the
reception room. The floor is covered with a
mosaic with octagonal and floral motifs.
11 The apse room, now partly covered by the
road, was decorated with a mosaic with pelta*
motifs, a fragment of which is on display in the
cruciform room.
12 The cruciform room was in all likelihood the
dining room, or triclinium: each of the arms
would have had a dining couch. A fourth arm to
the east leads to the reception room. This room
was originally heated by a hypocaust. The owners
laid a gutter around this room, no doubt because
there are springs on the hillside, destroying the
hypocaust system. Five mosaics with fish scale,
pelta* , and quatrefoil motifs decorated the floor.
The medieval sepulchres which can still be seen
subsequently damaged the tiling.
13 The display cases in the reception hall show
some of Pierre-Martial Tauziac’s collection.
Reception areas
8 The apse room was a reception room.
It was once heated by a hypocaust: hot air
generated in the hearth or praefurnium
circulated beneath the floor whose suspensura*
rested on little pillars of bricks, or piers,
which are still visible. The remains of the heating
ducts are visible at the bottom of the wall.
9 This apse room was an extension to the
previous one. The heating was probably removed
when it was built. The mosaic flooring with
geometrical motifs was suspended on solid
caissons separated by channels to ventilate the
*Explanations overleaf.