Roman ruin garden

Roman ruin garden

Even the ancient Romans discovered and used the lake of Hévíz. This is shown by the roman ruin garden located at the end of Attila Street, which was completely renovated in 2011.

The remains of the roman villa from the early Imperial times were discovered in 1931 and then the building of Villa Rustica was excavated between 2001 and 2003 in its vicinity.

The house was built at the end of the 1st century. According to the findings it must have been a richly decorated building and it was used even in the 4th century.

At the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries a large stone building was erected in its place which was 45 meters long and almost 23 meters wide, therefore more than 1000 square meters. The building had a porticus (columned porch) on the eastern side and some pools with warm, lukewarm and cold water. But it is not certain whether the building was the residential building (villa urbana) of the villa-farm, since there was no evidence of central heating.

The building is believed to have been ruined towards the end of the 2nd century, but in the 3rd century it was rebuilt with other interior design. Even a Mithras shrine was built in. The foundation stone of the altar was discovered during the excavation. The shrine and the building were destroyed in the 4th century, but soon it was rebuilt. At the beginning of the 5th century it was ruined completely. The function of the building is uncertain also in this period. Probably it was used for some kind of economic activity.