Avenches – Roman Museum – Permanent Exhibition

Second Floor A Typical Roman Town House
Second Floor
A Typical Roman Town House
(Display case 1)
This model (1-2) represents an upper-class house of the Mediterranean type
(domus) as is found in Pompeii. This domus covers a quarter of an insula (37 by 55 m)
and is two storeys high. Although it does not exactly correspond to the layout of a
house from Aventicum, it still displays the main elements.
From the open portico (2) facing the street (1), and in the case of merchants’
houses (3-4), containing small shops (tabernae), a passageway leads to the atrium
(5), characterised by an opening in the roof. This central courtyard could be used
for receiving visitors. From there, one had access to the reception rooms (6), some
of which were equipped with floor heating (hypocaustum), or to the private living
quarters of the house (10-14). The area reserved for the family surrounded a garden
(13) bordered by a peristyle (14). The upper storey (9) contained several rooms.
Depending on the importance of the rooms, the walls were decorated with
more or less elaborate wall paintings and the floors were decorated with mosaics or
terrazzo (tessellated flooring).
The roof, which was covered with tiles, had no chimney because the smoke of
the hypocaust could escape through special perforated tiles or directly through the
roof.
Layout of a Roman House (3):
1. Street
2. Portico (covered porch)
3. Shop (taberna)
4. Tavern (thermopolium)
5. Interior courtyard (atrium)
6. Heated reception room
7. Heating room (praefurnium)
8. Latrines
9. Staircase leading to the second floor
10. Kitchen
11. Living room
12. Bedroom (cubiculum)
13. Garden
14. Peristyle
15. Partition wall
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Second Floor
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