Mosaics

The imprint left by the Roman civilization in its imperial era is still visible today when walking through the streets of the Villa. The arch, the La Canal fountain, the Roman road or the apiaries are just some of the remains that visitors can contemplate. And of all of them, perhaps the most iconic are the mosaics. In St. Peter's Square we find the first one. The whole set has been silhouetted with various geometric borders of sogueados, braids, chains, jagged triangles, etc.. At the ends there are seven floral casetones and, on the sides, elongated bands with vegetal decoration. The center of the composition is structured around a quadrangular space with shells on the sides and cassettes with four-petaled heart-shaped flowers in the corners. Around these central motifs there are cassettes that house warriors' helmets, peltas topped with circles and shields with double-edged axes. Based on the technical and decorative similarities with the one in San Gil street, it has been dated to the 2nd century AD. The dimensions of the preserved section are 6.20 by 5.50m, a little less than half of the mosaic. The rest is inserted under the adjacent house. It presents a rich and varied polychrome decoration, in green, black, maroon, white, yellow and brown. The mosaic of the San Gil street was discovered on the occasion of the remodeling of the house under which it was located. It was excavated by archaeologists C. Núñez and J.J. Fernández between 1984 and 1985. It is dated to the second half of the 2nd century AD. It is organized by four bands of geometric and figurative motifs, framed by elaborate borders. The execution is very good, with rich polychrome (black, maroon, yellow, brown, green and white). In the central panel, surrounded by a line of herringbone, six fantastic animals were arranged in groups of two and separated by basketwork motifs. The hybrid monsters that can be recognized are a walking sphinx, a sea satyr and a griffin. There is also part of a bird that could belong to a harpy or mermaid. It can be visited free of charge in a room that the city council has enabled inside the Ducal Palace. The mosaic of the Plaza Mayor was excavated by Borobio M.J., Morales F. and Pascual A.C., between 1986 and 1989. Its structure and the decorative motifs represented would lead to date it to the lower imperial period (4th century). The whole set is organized around a figurative panel that presents in the center the goddess Ceres, holding the horn of plenty and surrounded by a circular outline of crisscrossed lines. It is currently in storage awaiting an appropriate place for its exhibition.