A dream becomes reality - visiting the mosaics at Fishbourne Roman Palace in England - Part One

From the train window on the way to Fishbourne. Possibly Arundel Castle?

The train pulled into the station. Fishbourne, West Sussex, England. It was unreal. No, it was real. I was finally going to see FishbourneRoman Palace after years of imagining what it would be like. Weather-wise it could not have been a better day. The sun was shining and the sky was blue. Not too hot and not too cold. Perfect.

Was this the weather the Romans had encountered when they first arrived here in AD 43, or was it cold and rainy and they wished they had stayed home?

From the train window on the way to Fishbourne. Fields of rapeseed.

I was born in England but have lived all my adult life in Los Angeles. The first Spanish settlers arrived in LA in 1769. That is my history now. AD 43 is hard to grasp, yet I have a definite attachment to that era—in fact, anything to do with the Roman Empire. If only the Roman army had gotten as far as southern California—oh well, no point in dreaming…

I have no idea what I was expecting. Should Fishbourne Roman Palace be some towering structure on a 1500-foot hill overlooking all of Sussex? That would not have surprised me, but it was not the case.

Walking down the steps from the train station I found myself in a residential area. There was a small sign pointing down the street.
I passed typical English brick houses, then a schoolyard with uniformed children playing. More houses. Was I going in the wrong direction? Then another sign. Visitors to the school should park in the Roman Palace parking lot. Okay. I was on the right road.

I found the parking lot. Oh joy. There were some buildings. But they didn’t look like a palace.
I entered the glass doors. On my right was the gift shop (always my favorite section of any place I visit) and on the left was the museum with artifacts and historical information. In front of me were the mosaic floors. I immediately knew I was in heaven.

This was the moment I had been dreaming of for… how many years… I really don’t know… a long, long time.

I took my first class in the archaeology certificate program at UCLA in 2004. I was immediately hooked. The following year I was asked to identify my area of primary interest. In order to answer the question I thought about a school excursion when I was very young to a site where mosaics were being excavated. I have no idea where that could have been. Certainly not Fishbourne, as that was not open to the public until 1968.

Without really thinking, my answer was Roman mosaics. I don’t even know where that came from as I had not thought about that school expedition for decades. But it seemed right. Somehow, out of the deepest corner of my memory this had surfaced. And from that moment on Roman mosaics became my obsession and interest.

On trips to Italy and Greece since then I had seen ancient mosaics in situ and they were wonderful. But to see them in my home country, real Roman mosaics, was beyond words. So I won’t attempt to explain the feeling here.

Fishbourne is the largest and earliest Roman Villa in England. After the initial conquest there were wooden buildings in the area. To make a longer story shorter, the Palace was built over those foundations between AD 75 and 80, probably for the British King of that area, Togidubnus, who was loyal to Rome.

Fishbourne Roman Villa. Walkway overlooking mosaics on both sides.

Unfortunately for us, the town of Fishbourne—complete with modern houses, shops, and the A259 highway—is built over half of the Villa. From time to time artifacts are dug up from the homeowners’ gardens so the extent of the Palace is known.

Fishbourne Roman Palace. Another shot of the walkway.

But fortunately for us, the part that is visible contains the most amazing mosaic floors. Although mosaic floors are associated with Roman houses, only the richest people could afford them, and then only in a few rooms. So to see this many mosaic floors all in one place is quite unusual.

Before looking at the mosaics, I purchased the booklet Fishbourne Roman Palace, An Illustrated Family Guide by David Rudkin. This really enhanced my visit as it is written from the point of view of Togidubnus, as if he was giving visitors from the future a tour of his home.

I will end part one here. To read Part Two of this blog post, click here.

(Photos copyright roslyn m wilkins)

The Last Days of Pompeii

A friend who could not take the time off work gave me her member tickets to see Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples at LACMA (Los Angeles County Art Museum). I invited TL to go with me on April 30.
When I visited Italy in 2005 (was it really that long ago?) one of the reasons I picked that particular Globus tour was because I wanted to see Pompeii. Our tour guide turned out to be mediocre on his good days and one of the many disappointments was that several people on the tour asked to get to Sorrento earlier than scheduled (to which he acquiesced). This meant a hurried trip to Pompeii.
(However, I do want to say that despite our guide, I had a great time visiting Italy and would take that same tour again in a second.)
Even worse was that the local guide spent 45 minutes of our time standing in one spot giving us a history of Pompeii when we could have been walking around seeing the place for ourselves. I wandered off, missing most of the information. So one day before leaving the planet for good, I have to go back on my own.
But happily, the exhibit at LACMA gave me the opportunity to make up for what I missed on that tour—and much more.
On my last day in Rome by myself, and after my travel companion left, I was able to visit the National Museum. Among other magnificent treasures, I saw room after room of frescoes rescued from Roman villas. And many magnificent floor mosaics laid out as they were meant to be seen, horizontally. I'll never forget that experience.
The LACMA exhibit is eclectic in its selection of art objects from sculptures to frescoes. Approximately one hundred and twenty items make up the exhibit, giving an impressive example of the art enjoyed by the wealthy Romans of that era. As far as archaeology goes, the Roman Empire happens to be my favorite period. If we have multiple lives, I must have lived in that time as I always feel so much at home when surrounded by the art and artifacts of that era.
After returning from my trip to Greece, I took a class in the UCLA Archaeology Program in 2008 entitled Art at the Getty Villa, one of the most enjoyable classes in the program. It was taught by Kenneth Lapatin, Associate Curator of Antiquities at The J. Paul Getty Museum, who happens to be the guest curator for this exhibit at LACMA. I had the opportunity in that class to talk about one of the mosaics at the Getty Villa as well as researching the production of ancient glass.
I was a little disappointed that only one mosaic was represented at the LACMA exhibit, as that art form was such an important part of Roman life (but at least it was displayed horizontally!). However, there was a nice representation of glassware from the Getty collection.
As a LACMA member myself I am fortunate that I will have a second opportunity to view the Pompeii exhibit again before it closes. In the meantime I am reading the catalog that I just had to buy. By the time I return in August I hope I will have been able to read it from cover to cover—I am well on my way.
If you have any interest in the Roman Empire at all (and I find it hard to believe that would eliminate anybody!) you must make the effort to see the Pompeii exhibit.
After seeing the exhibit I rented the 1935 movie The Last Days of Pompeii. It was pretty hokey by today's standards but it offered some groundbreaking special effects and gave some insight into how tough life was for the average citizen during that time. And who knew Preston Foster was such a hunk? {:>)
Out of their ashes we have learned so much...
(Photo copyright roslyn m wilkins)