Gallo-Roman villa of Orbe-Boscéaz

At Boscéaz is the largest collection of Roman Mosaics in Switzerland[1] which decorated a vast Roman villa built around 160 AD. It included private baths and a temple dedicated to Mithras.[2]

The first mosaics were discovered in 1841,[3] the Triton and the Labyrinth mosaics in 1845 (the latter was reburied the same year, then rediscovered in 1930), the Divinities mosaic in 1862, the laurel leaves mosaic in 1863 (reburied and rediscovered several times up to 1925),[4] and the Mosaic of Achilles on the island of Skyros, discovered in 1993, is undergoing restoration.[5] The first scientific excavations were conducted only in 1896, and the site was classified as an historical monument in 1900. In 1976, aerial photographs showed the plan and the extent of the villa, with a residential part more than 200 m long.

Between 1986 and 2004, the villa was a field school for students in archaeology of université de Lausanne.[6] These excavations allowed the study of the whole residential part of the domain (including the discovery of the ninth mosaic, now being restored[5]). They also allowed to determine that the site was occupied since the Neolithic, but also during the Bronze Age and the Iron Age.

The whole site is classified by the Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance. A welcome centre houses a scale model of the villa, an introduction video and a shop.

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  Mosaic of the deities of the week
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  Mosaic of the deities of the week: God Mars
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  Detail of the Mosaic of the rustic procession
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  One of the medallions of the mosaic of the Triton
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  Detail of the mosaic of squares and diamonds

• Albert Naef [in French] (1905). Les mosaïques de Boscéaz près Orbe. Imprimerie L. Vincent.
• Samuel Walter Poget; Louis Decollogny; Maurice Barbey (1929). Urba: mosaïques et vestiges romains de Boscéaz, près Orbe. Orbe: Éditions Velay.
• Samuel Walter Poget (1932). Le milliaire romain de Boscéaz près Orbe. Éditions Velay.
• von Gonzenbach Victorine, Les mosaïques romaines d'Orbe, Société suisse de Préhistoire et d'Archéologie, coll. " Guides archéologiques de la Suisse ", 1974
• Laurent Flutsch [in French] (1997). La villa gallo-romaine d'Orbe-Boscéaz et ses mosaïques. Guides archéologiques de la Suisse (in French). Fondation Pro Urba.
• Dubois Yves, Urba II., Ornementation et discours architectural de la villa romaine d'Orbe-Boscéaz, Lausanne, Cahiers d'Archéologie Romande 163–165, 2016
• Luginbhül Thierry et al., Vie de palais et travail d'esclaves, La villa romaine d'Orbe-Boscéaz, Lausanne, 2001, 120 p. (document available in pdf on this page )
• Paunier Daniel, Luginbhül Thierry et alii, Urba I. La villa romaine d'Orbe-Boscéaz, Genèse et devenir d'un grand domaine rural, Lausanne, Cahiers d'Archéologie Romande 161–162, 2016

• Fondation et association Pro Urba
• Archeoplus - Orbe (VD)