villa de colombier

Villa of Colombier

The rural antique residence is composed of agricultural holdings separated from one another,
whereas the market towns (vici) centralise trade and craft activities.

To our current knowledge, the only type of residence
known in Pays Neuchâtelois is the Villa, which is very
often found in the Roman countryside. The name indicates
a unity of agricultural production generally made up of
two distinct entities: pars urbana, comprising the
owner 's house and pars rustica, which gathers
the buildings reserved for agricultural activities
(staff housing, farm buildings, stables, granaries, etc.).

The location of the property generally follows the directions
laid down by roman agronomists and architects which take
into account the orientation of the estate, the close location
to communication channels and a stream.

                                                                           pars urbana

                                                                            pars rustica

The Villa of Colombier at the end of the 4^th century

A villa decorated with wall paintings and provided with a cemetery is first built on an eminence around 60 AD. At the beginning of the 2^nd century,
it is replaced by a larger building, renovated and enlarged several times until the end of the 4^th century. When reaching its maximum expansion,
the main building, which comprised the reception rooms, is extended with a portico courtyard serving the housing units, which were partly heated up,
and with small thermal baths. Further away, an entrance courtyard is surrounded by appendages

In front of the main façade, on the lake side, terraced gardens tier down to the flat
land with bigger thermal baths. Beyond them and all the way to the shore, the area is
surrounded by walls protecting warehouses and by the homes of the property staff.

Strange as it might seem, the villa has never been abandoned but has conserved palatial functions until the end of the first millennium, whereas the walls
of the medieval castle which succeeded it partly rest on Roman foundations. Considerable archaeological excavations have been carried out from 1840.

This model was built of pvc foam machined by numerical control on a scale
of 1:100. Its dimensions are 1.30m x 2.40m. The curved columns were turned and
milled by numerical control, the roofs were moulded in polyurethane resin.

The some 300 figures were formed in modelling wax in accordance with
documentation from the period, frescos or mosaic. The models which were then
formed were moulded and vacuum-cast.

The whole production was carried out in collaboration with the architect-archaeologist Pierre André, who conceived the reconstruction of this villa.

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