When the walls of Barcino became too small, a Roman potentate built his house around the 2nd or 3rd century, just outside them, a ‘domus’, in the current Antoni Maura square. His descendants converted to Christianity and would end up donating it to turn it into a funerary monument that housed the tombs of prominent people back in the 5th century (speculations, a few lines below) and a mosaic of 25 square meters preserved but currently not visitable (for imminent news, keep reading). Outside that monument grew an already Christian cemetery from which they have just come to light, during the reform works of Via Laietana, seven tombs from the late Roman period (4th to 5th centuries) and two late-antique tombs (from the Visigothic period, between the 6th and 7th centuries), in addition to two found a few months ago on the other side of Via Laietana.
During the works on Via Laietana The areas where the subsoil had to be removed or occupied by elements that would have made access impossible in the future have been archaeologically excavated. If in this corner (in front of the old American consulate, for the ‘boomers’) it had been decided to plant cuttings of rosemary or petunias, the excavation would have been left for better times. But Fortunately for archaeologists, that they knew that this was a promising spot, it had been decided right there to plant a tree. With its roots. So there was permission to dig deeper. And under the remains of medieval and modern walls appeared tombs.
That sepulchral area around that funerary monument, which extended towards the Ramon Berenguer and Santa Caterina square, deserved some special respect: for several centuries, one tomb was not superimposed on another, but rather they were respected. The proximity to the episcopal complex developed from Christianization to the early Middle Ages (the bishop’s palace in Plaça de Sant Iu, the baptistery in front of the cathedral, the episcopal hall under the Museu Marès) made it speculate that it was the burial place of the first bishops of Barcelona (a ring was found indicating it). And with even less foundation, it could have been the mausoleum of little Theodosius, who died in Barcelona, son of the Visigoth Ataúlfo and the daughter of Emperor Gal.la Placidia, who could have had a promising destiny. A luxurious place to be buried.
Two letters of one marble inscription
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Joan Garriga, archaeological director of the excavation, explains that what was found will help to understand how that space worked. The seven late Roman tombs, carved by the medieval walls and with fragments of their respective deceased (one has his head on one side of a wall and his legs on the other), they have tile floors and walls and battered brick and were surely crowned by gabled tiles or small funerary monuments. The Visigothic ones were dug directly into the ground without further ado. No grave goods have been found, but a piece of the shaft of a fluted column, two fragments of a marble inscription (with an I and an N) and remains of stucco with colored paint have been found. These remains could correspond to the tombs or to the partial demolition of the domus: Garriga recalls that the excavation is still in progress, so not only may more findings appear but, for the moment, all the dating and conclusions are extremely provisional.
The ‘domus’ (not a villa: although outside the walls it was an urban building, in the suburbs, not rural) and its mosaic, accessible through a bricked-up staircase for years, they were expected to be visitable last March, after restoring the mosaic and on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Museu d’Història de Barcelona, owner of the space. Water leaks and a questionable restoration in the 70s, with a mortar base, had damaged it. But when excavations began on this adjoining plot, the concrete slab that covers it began to shake. Panic moments. The mosaic was covered with planks to prevent rubble from falling but despite the alarm, the conclusion has been reached that the concrete, with some repairs to consolidate the fallen fragments, after waterproofing water leaks and eliminating a fan that made more bad that good, it will resist. And in autumn, when the works are finished, it will be able to be seen again.