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| The Fountain House, Conimbriga |
Just a few minutes south of Coimbra, Portugal are the Roman ruins of Conimbriga. Not ones to pass up seeing Roman ruins, we were pleasantly surprised with our visit. It wasn’t a surprise that there were Roman ruins in Portugal: after all, the Roman empire covered most of Europe, and there are indeed Roman ruins halfway from England to Scotland. What was a surprise, however, was how extensive the ruins at Conimbriga are; the only more impressive ruins we’ve see were in fact at Pompeii and in Rome.
The site at Conimbriga is only partially excavated, but what has been excavated is a number of Roman houses, businesses, the forum, two Roman baths, and a wall that had been added in the middle of the city’s history. There are numerous floor mosiacs like the one above in spectacular condition.
There are two baths in Conimbriga. The one in the picture above shows an excellent “cutaway” of how the Romans ran heated water beneath floors to warm the rooms, creating saunas and steam rooms.
An interesting discovery in Conimbriga is how they made columns. In other ruins we’ve seen, solid chunks of carved stone are stacked one atop the other to create a column, each piece sized and shaped with amazing care and precision. In Conimbriga columns were made with pie-shaped bricks, stacked and mortared together, then covered with a plaster, making an ingenious, expedient, and cost-effective alternative to carving stone.
Conimbriga is definitely worth a side trip from Coimbra.
