Index
58
Centre de Restauració de Béns Mobles de Catalunya
INNOVATION & RESEARCH
AGIT SERRANO
Consolidation of La Tartana THE WEALTHY AND LUXURIOUS LIFE ENJOYED BY CAIUS VALERIUS AVITUS AND HIS WIFE FAUSTINA in the villa required the storage of large amounts of water, in order to cover the needs of the residence. La Tartana is the popular name given to the remains of the water cistern, as it is reminiscent of a carriage cover. This is what remains of a construction with a barrel vault and a quadrangular floor plan, which was possibly part of a complex with more tanks. It is relatively secluded from the residential area and is built with irregular stones and pebbles grouted with lime mortar. This construction is very peculiar and identifies the site, especially because the entire vault is still preserved. Of the four full walls that formed the alleged quadrangular structure, two are whole, which support the barrel vault; the other walls vary in height depending on the preserved segment, of maximum 90-100 cm. These walls have lost all the exterior cladding.
RESCAT
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Remains of the old cistern (popularly known as La Tartana). Photo: Agit Serrano
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As is well known, the Romans used opus signinum as a waterproofing coating. We find it inside, on the flooring and in fragments on the walls. Outside, the remains are very thin, but we can find them on the wall opposite the sea and in much of the perimeter covered by earth from the land that has protected it. These exterior remains give clues to the fact that it could be part of a series of annexed tanks. In the walls that support the vault there is an old intervention made during the second half of the 20th century with stones and cement, which does not meet current restoration criteria, but which most likely has allowed the vault to be preserved today as we see it. As for the state of conservation of the vault, externally the joint mortar vastly disappeared, to the point that there were areas where the lack of it had caused the stones that form the roof to detach. In many cases, this loss has resulted in the partial collapse of the vault. The inside of it was very deteriorated: there was joint mortar
