BASSE-WAVRE
Commune of Wavre, Belgium.
At L'Hosté, excavations were undertaken in 1864
and again in 1904 to explore the remains of what is
considered the largest and most luxurious Gallo-Roman
villa ever found in Belgium. it has often been regarded
as a villa urbana, an opulent country home, but it
seems rather to have been located in the middle of a
large fundus and to have served as the residence of the
proprietor of the estate. At a little distance from the
building, the foundations of one of its annexes were
uncovered. in any event, in spite of its dimensions, the
structure excavated served solely as a dwelling-place,
and not a single trace of activity relating to agriculture,
crafts, or industry has been found.
The villa appears to have been built all at one time,
with a long portico flanked by buildings at its corners.
Only the structure housing the baths, at the extreme W
end, is built slightly askew; possibly it was a later addition.
The main facade, 130 m long, faced SE. A gallery
of mixed stone and mortar construction 110 m long
served the entire building. There were also less important galleries running the length of the NE facade.
The plan is symmetrical. The central pavilion, flanked
by two interior courtyards (or flower beds), stood opposite the main entrance. it comprised a large room,
preceded and followed by rooms of smaller, equal size.
The central pavilion, heated by a hypocaust, was paved
in mosaic, with tesserae of red pottery, terracotta, and
black marble. Numerous fragments of polychrome plaster were found in this area.
The E wing was also provided with a hypocaust. At
the extreme left, a room with an area of 90 sq. m, sumptuously decorated and also heated, was built as a detached structure. its mosaic pavement was composed of tesserae of gray, blue, black, and white marble, and
the walls were revetted with marble and porphyry. The
narrow windows were glazed. A small corner room
adjoining this monumental room served as a kitchen.
The W wing appears to have included only service
quarters. The bath installation, connected to the villa
by a gallery, contained both a hot and a cold bath,
separated by a small garden. in the cold bath was a
semicircular pool 6 m in diameter, paved with slabs of
white and gray marble.
In the course of the 3d c. A.D., the villa was destroyed
by fire, possibly in one of the barbarian invasions of the
second half of the 3d c.; however, the excavations conducted according to methods now outdated have not
yielded a solution to this problem of chronology.
Later, at an undetermined date, a small apsidal building was erected with reused material. it is probably a
mediaeval construction, but it is not possible to date it
precisely.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
R. de Maeyer,
De Romeinische Villa's
in België (1937), passim
P; id.,
De overblijfselen van de
Romeinsche Villa's in België (1940) 29-34; J. Martin,
Le Pays de Gemboux des origines à l'an mil (1950) 55-60; M. Desittere,
Bibliografisch repertorium der oudhaidkundige vonsten in Brabant (1963) 160-64.
S. J. DE LAET
