Resurrecting Belgica Romana: Peter Ernst von Mansfeld’s garden of antiquities in Clausen, Luxemburg, 1563–90

This chapter examines Peter Ernst von Mansfeld’s appropriation of local antiquities in his suburban residence and garden at Clausen, in Luxemburg. Mansfield, who would become the longest-serving governor of Luxemburg, built up an impressive collection of Gallo-Roman antiquities from Trier, Arlon and Metz. Mansfield constructed this complex, called La Fontaine, between 1563 and 1590 as a properly ‘antique’ setting, with a vaulted grotto and cryptoporticus. In this essays Mansfield’s antiquarian efforts are considered in the context of the broader search by Netherlandish humanists for archaeological evidence confirming their Roman roots. The Southern Low Countries, called Belgica after Julius Caesar’s Commentarii de bello Gallico, were known to have been once part of Roman Gaul, and even while it was still under construction, La Fontaine was visited by knowledgeable travellers hunting for the material remains of Belgica Romana. Later on, early accounts of the history of Gallo-Roman Luxemburg were greatly indebted to Mansfeld’s La Fontaine and its early chroniclers.