Das Brunnenhaus der Arsinoe in Messene

At the northern edge of the Agora of Messene the remains of a fountainhouse has been excavated which belong with his lenth of about 36 m to the largest water supply-buildings in Greece. The structure represents the fountainhouse of Arsino mentioned by Pausanias during his visit of the city and is named after the mother of Asclepios to whom a monumental sanctuary was dedicated in the South of the Agora. During excavations it became clear that the structure was demolished since the 5th century A.D. for gaining building material. Several areas with collapsed structures and many architectural fragments reused in the close environs gave the possibility to reconstruct the building in his essential parts, the sequences of his use as well as his architectural orders. The researches brought to light that the building has reused parts of a predecessor of the late 3th century B.C. which was built against a big terrace wall of the Late Classical period. This predecessor was of kanonic stoa-like structure with a Doric front order and inner Ionic pillar rows which covered a long rear water basin and a front corridor closed at both ends with discharge pipe-like systems for the water use. In the middle of the 1th century A.D. a complete remodelling of the structure took place. This reconstruction which is attested by an inscription with a private foundation included the demolition of the Doric front order, the erection of two large open basins in the front by reusing material of many statuary monuments, the inclusion of a central arched structure in the middle of the Ionic pillar row, shifting statuary monuments into the large rear basin and to the new front of the building as well as the arrangement of new small water basins. With this complete remodelling a former mainly functional destinated architecture was changed into a representative monument which proves with his different water arrangements and his statuary outfit a decided Roman architectural taste. This metamorphosis of architecture from a functional building for water supply into a typical Roman Nymphaeum with an artificial staging for water and statues can be testified in connection with the Early Imperial architecture in Greece at several sites, for example at Corinth and Epidauros. Also proved by new excavations the researches brought to light that already the predecessor was part of an extensive urbanistic concept during which the northern edge of the agora was closed up by a monumental rail of large building structures. But also the comprehensive remodelling of the fountainhouse in the Early Imperial period took place in connection with a new concept of town planning which is attested at several places in the city of Messene.