Explore one of the largest Ancient Roman settlements in Portugal!
Conímbriga is located just south west of Coimbra. They have similar names but are very different.
Known for its Ancient Roman settlements, Conímbriga was settled several hundred years for the Romans arrived in 139 BCE. Romans being Romans, they brought their planned cities with them.
Conímbriga was a typical Roman town with a forum, temples and fancy villas. A major rebuilding spree in the 3rd-4th centuries. The town thrived until it was raided in 465 and 468 by the Suebi, a group of German people that migrated, with swords, into the Iberian Peninsula. Many of those who had survived the raids, ended up leaving not long after for Coimbra. However, Conímbriga survived as a settlement until around the 9th century.
Starting outside the city walls. Conímbriga had several fancy villas in a general area. Several villas were torn down to build that giant late Roman wall, including this one.
Now entering the villa with those fancy mosaics, the Casa da Cruz Suástica (House of the Cross Swastika). Swastikas, seen in the photo above, were good luck charms in Ancient Rome. This is just a fun pattern.
Most of the mosaics date to the second half of the 3rd century.
The center peristyle had a very elaborate water feature, surrounded by a little garden.
Super fancy and colorful mosaic. I think this one still belongs to the Casa da Cruz Suástica, but it might be part of the next one.
Casa dos Esqueletos (House of the Skeletons, or how it was labeled in English on the sign, “House of the Squeletons”). It was another fancy villa with an elaborate peristyle and several mosaics. The house got its name from the cemetery that developed in its ruins.
This is the most complete mosaic that survives from the villa.
Ruins of the Termas da Muralha (Baths of the Wall). It was a small bathing facility dating back to the 1st century CE. It had a men’s and women’s sections, so both men and women could bathe at the same time.
There was a large tour group in the next serious of buildings so I headed to the back of the site to the Southern Baths from the 1st BCE, with later renovations.
One of the plunge pools.
Not all of the city was full of fancy villas. Normal people lived and worked in large insula, often multi-storied. A mixture of residences and businesses filled the same block. Buildings like the insula were lived in longer after the residents of the villas fled.
The insula in the rear right and the south end of the Forum. You can also see a water channel on the lower right.
I’m not sure why there is a modern floor here though. The second Forum (1st century CE) was a large rectangle surrounded by a peristyle with a temple on a raised platform (center of photo). The columns are what remain of the peristyle.
From this angle, you can see the foundations of the shops that lined the Forum.
At the back of the Forum, you can see some ruins of pre-Roman structures that were demolished to build a bigger Forum.
Remains from a Castellum Divisorium, a big rectangular tank where an aqueduct ended. From this tank, water would be piped throughout the city.
The ruins of the Baths of the Aqueduct. The baths were once bigger but were partially pulled down to build the late Roman wall. Part of which now serves as a stage of a theater.
A bit of remaining aqueduct.
The Insula of the Aqueduct was one of the first buildings in Conímbriga that used Roman construction techniques and layouts.
Like the other insula, this one had both residential and commercial properties.
Now for the largest villa in Conímbriga, the House of Cantaber.
This house is so large it has 5 different peristyles and over 40 rooms.
Unlike the other villas, this was spared destruction and survived into the Middle Ages.
The mosaics though didn’t survive as well.
It even had its own bathhouse. It was built in the 2nd century over the top of the villa’s old garden.
The hypocaust system looks like it’s still intact. Hot air would have been blown through the channels to heat up the baths.
I’m guessing by the lack of hypocausts, this was the cold water plunge pool.
You can see how far this villa stretches.
Another peristyle, with a fancy apse behind it. Probably a dining room.
It didn’t preserve well, but here are the remains of an Early Christian (Paleochristian) basilica that was constructed from an earlier villa.
The peristyle (of which you can still see the column bases) was turned into a baptismal font. They were still big on full immersion baptisms then.
We’ve made an almost complete circle now and are back of the Late Roman wall’s gates. This wall was built in the final years of the 3rd century and the beginning of the 4th. The walls didn’t surround the entire city, but left quite a bit undefended.
The house destroying wall.
House of the Fountains, which had the best mosaics, frescos and waterworks, was also demolished for the walls.
But at least, a ton of mosaics survived. Like a lot.
Absolutely gorgeous. By the way this room opens up to the peristyle, it may be a dining room.
Another mini-peristyle and mosaics.
These people had some money.
Gorgeous.
There were some really amazing designs.
Conímbriga is no Pompeii, but it truly is special in its own way. The Iberian Peninsula has some of the best Roman mosaics to be found.
To visit Conímbriga, one must join a guided tour from a local city or drive. There isn’t much out this way other than the village next door. There is also a hiking area from the same parking lot.
Tune in for my next update where I explore a city with a castle and a city with a shrine!
or
Start at the beginning of this adventure!
Share this:
Discover more from Wandering Jana
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
