The fantastic Roman Mosaics in Orbe are composed of several hundreds of pieces on the floor of the original site which was once part of an extremely large Roman villa, a real palace belonging to a rich but unknown landowner. The villa was built in approximately 160 A.D. and abandoned around the year 270 A.D.
Four of the mosaics depict black-and-white or coloured geometrical "trompe l'oeil" motifs which, to the delight of their beholders, can be viewed in different ways. The other mosaics contain figurative portrayals and depict various easily-recognisable scenes, including the Minotaur labyrinth, Theseus abandoning the sleeping Ariadne, Ulysses summoning Achilles to battle and the Roman gods (the symbols of the seven planets and of the seven days of the week).
How to get there:
By car: the site is 2 km away from Orbe, in the direction of Yverdon-les-Bains, in a place called "Boscéaz".
The Roman Mosaics
Orbe
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The most beautiful Roman mosaics north of
the Alps lie within a walled Gallo-Roman
town measuring 400m x 400m.
Open:
Easter until end of October
More links
Contact Information
- Office du tourisme d'Orbe et environs
Grand-Rue 1
CP 164
1350 Orbe
Tel. +41 (0)24 442 92 37
tourisme@orbe.ch
tourisme.orbe.ch/
