Discovered
on the plateau of Wavre in 1898 and excavated at several stages, the remains of
a mausoleum have delivered several stature fragments and architectural blocks.
In Wavre,
we find the characteristic elements of this kind of tombstones, erected by the
rich owners of the villas, on the boundaries of their land on a roadside. In
the present case it was allegedly built on the shortcut that met la Vy d'Etra.
The 3.5 metre long central building stood in the middle of an enclosed area of
13 x 13 m.
Many burials took place
within the enclosure which surrounded the monument
The
mausoleum, which was probably erected during the first
half of the 2nd century alongside a road, comprised a
burial cave and was decorated with a pediment,
with pilasters and columns. It was meant for
sheltering three statues of dead persons: that of a couple
and of a small man, perhaps their son, owners of the
villa located a few hundred metres away. Only fragments
of male statues have been found. The largest statue
represented a roman citizen, which can be seen on the
gown, in a position of a speaker holding a roll of texts in
his left hand..
This model,
built on a scale of 1:33, is manufactured in low density machinable board. The
pediment and the columns were machined by numerical control, the caps and the
statues were hand-sculptured.
The whole construction was
made in collaboration with archaeologist Philippe Bridel, who reconstructed the
monument Laténium
