Hidden among the fields, slopes and forests throughout Limburg are the remains of Roman villas. These successful farms served the powerful Roman army between the years 100 and 250 AD. Several dozen have been excavated, many of them still lie underground in unknown places.
An exhibition in the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden now tells the great story of the Roman villas in Limburg to the public for the first time. In the autumn the exhibition will come to the Limburgs Museum in Venlo and next year to Heerlen. The exhibition is based on everything that has been found, excavated and stored in Limburg over the past century and a half, but has not previously been extensively researched and connected.
The compilers are curator Karen Jeneson of the Roman Museum in Heerlen, Jasper de Bruin of the RMO and Bibi Beekman of the Limburgs Museum in Venlo. At the opening in Leiden, Jeneson gave a lecture about the Roman villas. The visitors hung on her every word, she noticed. “This was new to them. It is such a different story than the Roman story in the rest of the Netherlands. It’s fantastic that the RMO is bringing this to national attention.”
The villa Vlengendaal near Bocholtz. — © Remy Kooi, SubMedia
Jeneson has called on those present in Leiden to also come to Limburg to see where the villas were located, such as in Kerkrade, Voerendaal, Vaesrade, Stein, Bocholtz, Meerssen, Mook, Lemiers, Ravensbosch, Maasbracht and Buchten. The landscape may be silent, but with some knowledge and imagination that Roman story does come to life. There are information boards in various places that bring Roman history to life.
Via Belgica
Also possible is walking the ancient Roman route Via Belgica, a visit to the Roman Museum in Heerlen and festivals such as the original Archeofestival in Bocholtz that takes place again in mid-June. Jeneson hopes that Limburgers will not flock to Leiden and wait until the exhibition can be seen here. But she would especially like to see Limburgers finally become proud of this part of their history. It is possible that the kick-off of the exhibition in the prestigious RMO will contribute to this.
Back to Leiden. On an area of four hundred square meters it is explained that the current province was dotted with Roman villas in the first three centuries of our era. They served the Roman war machine that tried to defend or expand the enormous Roman empire in the north. Spelled was grown on the fertile loess, which is where the wool and leather came from that were transported to the forts on the border with the Germanic Empire along the old roads.
We should not take the word villa literally. “When people think of villas, they think of wealthy residents, the elite who do nothing and only have a nice house. No, they were large farms with an estate,” says Jeneson. The companies originated from indigenous farming settlements that were built of wood, clay and straw and were slowly expanded into stone farms that became larger and larger. They had more and more rooms, outbuildings, warehouses and quarters for staff, often slaves.
Germanic grandfather
Another misunderstanding: the owners and employees were not Romans, but original inhabitants who were gradually ‘Romanized’. Jeneson: “This is how it happened that a Roman farmer had a Germanic grandfather.” This cultural assimilation was the result of the settlement of retired Roman soldiers in the province, who after leaving were given a piece of land with which they could start an agricultural business.
The sarcophagus of Simpelveld. — © National Museum of Antiquities
For their years of loyal service, they also received a military diploma, stamped on a metal plate. A piece of such a diploma is part of the exhibition. It was found in Rimburg, but came from a soldier who had served in Pannonia, the current Balkans. It shows what distances were covered at the time and where soldiers settled. Jeneson: “It is someone from here who has returned home or someone from there who has settled here.”
Gradually the wealth of the landowner also increased. This can be seen in the jewelry, refined objects, frescoes and floor mosaics. The best-known example is Simpelveld’s sarcophagus, a 3D-printed replica of which is in the exhibition. This ash box belonged to a rich lady, who took her most beautiful things from under the earth.
Sacrificial lamp
Jeneson also points to the inventory of a grave from Brunssum, with tambourine bells that may have belonged to a sistrum. “That was used in the worship of Isis in Egypt. It would mean that soldiers from here have been there. We also have a sacrificial lamp that refers to the Persian god Mithras.” It all contributes to the image of a multicultural region.
Grave finds from Heerlen. — © RMO
Through all the objects on display, the visitor largely walks through an old-style exhibition. Strong visual additions are therefore very welcome, such as a film in which a modern moderator à la Daan Schuurmans walks through a recreated villa with actors. The film is from the Heerlen company SubMedia, which has also made instructional computer animations of some villas. These give the exhibition an extra dimension and the visitor more support. And the entire puzzle was created using a computer based on just a few puzzle pieces from a fresco from Maasbracht.
The interactive panel with five phases of the construction of the Voerendaal villa was also successful. It starts with a small farm of clay and wood, then a phase of stone, at the peak a small village with a main building of a hundred meters in length, then a small stone building with a watchtower and shelter and finally a ruin like the Romans expelled by the Franks.
Also read: South Limburg as a breadbasket for the Roman war machine
