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Travel News: largest intact Roman mosaics in the world found in Cuenca, Spain

Posted by (Barcelona + Sweden) on

Hi all, thought I would share a bit of exciting archaeology news! This week, a huge Roman Villa complex (10 hectares!) with incredible and detailed mosaics (the largest ever found) has been uncovered in Cuenca Province, 2 hrs east of Madrid. The site, dubbed Villa de Noheda, will be open for public viewing as soon as possible, according to the regional government of Cuenca.

They've only excavated 5% of the villa complex and have found, in addition to those mosaics, wine amphora from Syria and marble from Greece. The theory is that the Villa is somehow connected to Roman Emperor Theodosius, who was originally from Hispania (Present day Spain), and reigned around the time when this Villa was built.

Who knows, maybe when this site is open to the public, we may have to add yet another interesting day trip from Madrid :)

Article in English (Spanish newspaper):
https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/06/10/inenglish/1560162629_375925.html

Picture gallery in English:
https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/06/10/album/1560176067082101.html#fotogal_2

p.s. if you don't feel comfortable clinking on links, just google news of Villa de Noheda 😉

Posted by
11294 posts

Thanks for posting this - I now know the focus of my next trip to Spain!

Posted by
4180 posts

No problem 😉, I'm a bit of an Ancient History buff myself. Many outside travelers don't realize how many unique ancient sites there are in Iberia, many with relatively little to no tourism.

Posted by
7160 posts

It seems the town is about 14 miles north of Cuenca and I’ve added it to my itinerary for next year if the site is open to the public by then.

Posted by
10344 posts

Thanks, Carlos. Reminds me of Roman excavations we saw last month under Bari Gotic in Barcelona. Interesting that Romans got so far from the coast.

Posted by
4180 posts

Hi Kent, well that's the mystery of the Noheda Villa, such a large opulent palace, yet so far from the imperial roads in the area. Although there were a number of major inland Roman towns in Hispania, like Segovia, Zaragoza, Toletum, and Segobriga.

Posted by
10344 posts

Carlos, on my recent Spain trip, I was interested to see the historical progression from Greek to Roman to Visigoth, to Moors. Then the Reconquista.

Posted by
885 posts

Carlos, thank you for posting this. Really interesting!!!!

Posted by
3643 posts

Darn! We were just in Cuenca in April. Maybe we’ll go back. Sigh, so many places, so little time.

Posted by
15788 posts

Thank you, Carlos. That will definitely be on my itinerary on my next trip to Spain (no plans at the moment, but Spain is always calling me back :-)

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