​ISABEL YOUNG

About The Lararium Project

 

‘The Lararium Project’ is a recent research project undertaken in 2023, which can be visited at Butser Ancient Farm, a museum of experimental archaeology in Hampshire. The project saw the design and installation of a new lararium (a shrine to the household gods) for Butser’s Roman Villa. Simultaneously a working construct of the past and a reimagined household shrine for the present, the goddess Ceres replaces the Genius (the male head of the house) in dedication to the female deity of the harvest in reference to the farming role of Butser as a haven for wildlife, rare breed animals and endangered crops. The lararium is richly painted and constructed to replicate a miniature temple simulating an interface between the divine, the spirit world, familial ancestors, place and householders through the symbolic imagery and traditions of veneration. Images of snakes adorn the surfaces since they were seen as protective spirits of the house during Roman times and closely associated with household shrines.

 

The lararium opened during Chichester Roman Week when the Butser IX Roman Legion were in residence at the museum re-enacting living history to demonstrate what life would have been like in Roman Britain. As a permanent fixture of Butser Ancient Farm’s Roman Villa the lararium continues to be used for education and re-enactments gaining further insight into religious practices and associated rituals, and to explore the cultural dynamics of the Roman home.

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The Lararium Project fostered collaboration between artist, archaeologists, museum professionals, museum communities and visitors. The associated 4 days of workshops invited members of the public to create votive offerings dedicated to Ceres, goddess of harvest, to whom the shrine is dedicated. The Roman Villa in this context became the collective site of home where the network between heritage asset (Villa), interpretive device (lararium) and visitor-oriented outcomes (votive offerings) shaped stories and messages. Through the votive offerings visitors made their own meaning in the museum space allowing them to consider what might be important or significant, and through this became the makers of interpretation. Visitors left with more than a transfer of knowledge; they departed with connections and alliances (creative, emotional, intellectual, fellowship) between history, archaeology, museum practitioners and participants.