Srejach

Roman villa rustica

A villa rustica was a Roman country estate or farm. It consisted of residential structures and outbuildings. Larger villas also had bathhouses or small temples, and the house was heated by underfloor heating (hypocaust). Villae rusticae were enclosed by a surrounding wall. After the Roman annexation of Noricum in 15 BCE, immigrant Italic and Roman families established these estates. They ensured supplies for the urban population. The villa near Srejach had a room with underfloor heating. Part of the walls was elaborately decorated with paintings. To the north and west, an almost 85-m-long exposed wall enclosed the courtyard. Several remains of postholes indicate wooden buildings. Further to the east were cremation graves, presumably belonging to the villa‘s former inhabitants. Burn marks on many finds indicate that a fire destroyed the villa in the late 3rd century CE.