Reconstruction of the Great Orpheus Roman Pavement

 

The pavement display has modern lighting and a gallery that enables visitors to walk all the way round. There is disabled access so wheelchairs can access the whole of the pavement display including the information boards and video.

 

Contact: A Jones
General Manager
eMail: adrianjones@waitrose.com

 

The character in the mosaic is inspired by the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, a classic tale of love and loss from Greek Mythology. Orpheus was the son of Apollo, the God of music, and Calliope, the muse of narrative poetry.

 

Orpheus could sing and play the lyre so beautifully that not only mortals but even the animals and trees, rivers and rocks listened to him. Orpheus fell in love with Eurydice, who was bitten on the heel by a venomous snake on their wedding day and died. Orpheus was inconsolable and went down into the underworld to retrieve her.

 

Through the power of his lyre he persuaded the guardians of the underworld to let him pass through. Melted by the power of his music, Orpheus met no resistance, however, there was a condition. Orpheus could lead Eurydice back from the underworld, but, was not to look at her before she arrived in the land of the living. Due to the snake bite on her foot Eurydice's progress was slow and just before she emerged, Orpheus could bear it no longer and threw a quick glance at her over his shoulder. Eurydice immediately fell back into the 'thin mist' of the kingdom of the dead. All attempts to return to the underworld were now closed to Orpheus.

 

Their story inspired the Roman mosaicists to create the original mosaic on the floor of a Roman villa at Woodchester. The original is thought to have been constructed in c.325 AD.

 

The original pavement is buried in a churchyard in Woodchester. The last time it was on view to the public (1973), it produced so much interest and traffic congestion in the town that it was decided never to unearth it again.

 

Devastated by the possibility that no-one else would see the 'living legend', two local builders. Bob and John Woodward spent ten years working on the reconstruction you are about to see.

 

 

The mosaic is 15 metres square.

 

Along the gallery you can enter the video room and watch the DVD story of Samuel Lysons (1763-1819). Lysons was one of the first archeologists to document the original mosaic.

 

From the viewing gallery you can see the mosaic from all angles. The image of Orpheus is just in front of the fountain.

 

Orpheus is always portrayed with his lute, symbolising the power of his music. The calm and peace with which his music is said to have moved all living things makes Orpheus a symbol of harmony and peace. He has been borrowed as an icon of different things throughout history and nowadays has come to symbolise care of the environment and protection of nature.

 

When the Romans left Britain in approximately 410 AD the country descended into a point in history known as the Dark Ages because of the breakdown in law and order previously imposed by the Romans and the lack of recorded history from this era.

 

During the Dark Ages when the Roman Empire had reached its inevitable exhaustion, the church salvaged from the wreckage all that was valuable and transmitted it to posterity.

 

The Monasteries retained the ideals of civilisation. St Benedict grew up in the vicinity of Rome and knew its culture. He wrote The Rule of St Benedict that governs the activities of all Benedictine Communities to the present day.

 

In the monastic display room, you can learn about the way in which a modern monastery functions.

 

You can also see an example of the kind of cell in which Saint Benedict would have lived.