Experts present research on Villa Voerendaal
Author: Harry Lindelauf
Photography: RCE, Diederick Habermehl en Mikko Kriek
After years of research, archaeologists will present on Friday 31 March 2023 the results of their investigations into the Roman Villa of Voerendaal. The symposium in the Limburgs Museum in Venlo can be followed online by everyone.
The villa beneath the fields along the Steinweg in Voerendaal is remarkable for several reasons. Finds prove that people lived and worked here from the Late Iron Age until the Merovingian period (5th–8th century).
The size of the villa is also exceptional: it is one of the largest found in the Netherlands so far. Around the year 200, the Roman farm was a huge estate of 13 hectares with a central residential building with heated rooms, cellar, bathhouse, granary, smithy, workshops and dwellings. A colonnade 150 metres long provided a covered walkway between the main building, bathhouse and granary.
Extensive study
In the past, archaeologists carried out several excavations on the site. The most recent excavation dates from the mid-1980s and was led by provincial archaeologist Willem Willems. His last wish—to work out and analyse all excavation results—has now been fulfilled. This was made possible thanks to funding from the national government and the Province of Limburg. Around 15 specialists examined buildings, building materials, pottery and plant remains. They had access to the excavation documentation and to no fewer than 45,000 objects in the archaeological depot of the province. The results have led to a scientific publication of 1,200 pages. This document will be available on the website of the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. In 2022, the Limburgs Museum in Venlo published a public version with information on the research: Villa Voerendaal, From find to surprising story.
Follow the symposium online
The symposium will take place on Friday 31 March 2023 from 12:30 to 16:15 and can be followed online if you are registered with the Cultural Heritage Agency. A few days in advance, you will receive a link to participate.
Registration is possible via the following link: https://bit.ly/3Xse5H9
Programme
12:30 Opening by Jos Bazelmans of the Cultural Heritage Agency
12:35 The result of 130 years of research, Henk Hiddink, project leader
13:00 Speech by deputy Geert Gabriëls and the mayor of Voerendaal, Wil Houben
Presentation by Leonard de Wit of the first copy of the book to the family of Willem Willems
13:45 Before the villa existed: a fortified farmstead from the Late Iron Age, Diederick Habermehl
14:10 Settlements on the Lower Rhine between the 3rd and 7th centuries, Marion Brüggler
15:00 The plant-based side of the Roman agricultural estate, Wouter van der Meer
15:25 Pottery in Roman times, Julie van Kerckhove
15:50 Working out old villa excavations: nostalgia or new information, Jasper de Bruin
16:15 Closing
