Wall remains to east of mosaic A2, looking down from north
- Description:
- Wall remains to east of mosaic A2, looking down from north
- Photographer:
- Image capture by Edwin Brock
- Date Created:
- June 24, 1998
- Collection:
- Villa of the Birds Mosaic Conservation
- Series:
- Conservation work in progress
- Subseries:
- Early Roman Villa
- Location:
- Alexandria, Egypt and Al Iskandarīyah
- Time Period:
- Early Roman Empire
- Topic:
- Ruins and Domestic architecture
- Genre:
- black-and-white photographs
- Conservation Note:
- Part of the original destruction layer of House alpha was investigated in the northern end of the current trench. Below the debris of shattered wall blocks and numerous fragments of coloured plaster, excavations revealed a segment of a wall dividing rooms designated as loci 2 and 3 of the Early Roman villa. This wall was 0. 52- 0.55 m wide and was found to run over a distance of 1.30 m. The blocks in it are partly cracked and dislocated, in a manner reminiscent of earthquake destruction. A similarly constructed segment of wall ( only 1 m long) was discovered limiting room no. 2 on the north side. Both walls rise barely one course of blocks above the footing, that is, some 20-30 cm above the level of the mosaic floors. Easily discernible ghost walls permitted their course to be traced. In certain areas (north, west and east walls of loc. 2), some sections of the foundations, made of small blocks of varying size bonded in clay, were revealed. For more information, see progress report 2 or the Final Report.
- Copyright Status:
- copyrighted
- Creative Commons License:
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
- Local ID:
- arce_ca_vob_images_0197.tif
- Project History:
- At the heart of modern Alexandria in Kom el-Dikka lies an exceptional demonstration of Domestic architecture during the Roman Imperial period. The Early Roman villa named “Villa of the Birds” houses exceptionally well preserved mosaic floors, made of tesserae. True to its name, it contains Mosaic a-5 which depicts different bird species within seven different panels. Under the auspices of the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE), Dr. Wojciech Kolataj and his team conserved the mosaic floors, constructed a shelter, and landscaped the surrounding area. Some related supplemental work was carried out by the Polish-Egyptian Preservation Mission, and sponsored jointly by the Supreme Council of Antiquities (currently the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities) and the Polish Center of Archaeology. Conservation work was made possible with the support of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (formerly the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities).
- Funding Agency:
- Villa of the Birds Mosaic Conservation project was made possible with funding by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Grant No. 263-G-00-93-00089-00 (formerly 263-0000-G-00-3089-00) and administered by the Egyptian Antiquities Project (EAP) of the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE).