Archaeologists Reconstruct Massive Roman Frescoes from Ancient Londinium Villa in Discovery Hailed as Unprecedented

LONDON — Archaeologists from the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) have unveiled a meticulously reconstructed set of Roman frescoes from a luxurious villa in ancient Londinium, calling the effort one of the largest and most intricate restorations of Roman painted plaster ever undertaken in Britain.

The frescoes, made up of thousands of painted plaster fragments, were originally part of a grand residence built between 43 and 150 C.E. in what is now Southwark, London. The building was destroyed before 200 C.E., leaving only a debris pit of shattered wall pieces. Excavations conducted between 2021 and 2022 unearthed the fragments at “The Liberty of Southwark,” the future site of a mixed-use development.

“It’s one of the biggest—if not the biggest—assemblages of Roman wall plaster and paintings we’ve ever found in Roman London,” said Han Li, senior building material specialist at MOLA, in an interview with BBC News. “Within a few days, we realized just how much potential this had in terms of telling us about Roman paintings and indeed Roman archaeology.”

The painstaking process of reassembling the frescoes began with months of sorting through the fragile pieces, many of which had been mixed together from different rooms during the villa’s collapse nearly 2,000 years ago. The researchers likened it to solving the “world’s most difficult jigsaw puzzle” without knowing what the final image was supposed to look like.

Eventually, specialists began to identify decorative motifs including fruit, flowers, birds, candelabras, and lyres. One section displayed a vivid yellow hue—an uncommon and prestigious pigment in Roman Britain. Other patterns mimicked luxurious materials such as red porphyry from Egypt and giallo antico marble from North Africa, hinting at the high status of the villa’s owner.

“These designs would have been immensely expensive, requiring highly skilled artists and materials sourced from across the Roman Empire,” Li told the Washington Post. “The scale of what we can put back together and the diversity of motifs is incredible.”

The quality and rarity of the frescoes, along with their location in what was once a wealthy suburban enclave dubbed the “Beverly Hills of Roman London,” suggest the villa may have belonged to an elite family or served as an upscale guesthouse or mansio. This theory is supported by the presence of imported decorations and high-end construction materials.

Among the fragments, archaeologists also discovered graffiti including a nearly complete inscription of the Greek alphabet. Researchers believe it may have been used as a checklist or tally system, implying the building may have also served a commercial function, such as a storage depot for goods in transit across the empire.

Another remarkable discovery was the Latin word “FECIT,” meaning “has made this,” carved within a tabula ansata—a decorative tablet often used by Roman artists to sign their work. Though the name of the artist is missing, this is the first time such an inscription has been found on Roman frescoes in Britain, offering a direct link to the individuals who created the artwork.

“There was this beautiful Roman painted wall, looking right back at me,” said Li to NPR. “It was awe-inspiring—and a bit terrifying.”

MOLA researchers now believe the same group of artists may have also worked on frescoes at the Fishbourne Roman Palace in West Sussex, based on stylistic similarities such as the rare use of bright yellow. With new visual references and understanding, archaeologists hope to identify more of their work in future excavations.

Andrew Henderson-Schwartz, head of public impact at MOLA, emphasized the broader implications of the discovery. “They’re investing in London, and they’re seeing it as a place to settle in, a place to stay,” he said to BBC News. “It’s not just a kind of provincial outpost.”

The reconstructed frescoes are expected to play a major role in reshaping scholarly understanding of Roman Britain’s artistic sophistication and economic reach.

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