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Hidden gem1st – 4th c. ADFree

Roman villa of Zofingen

Römerbad, Villa rustica (Zofingen), Römische Mosaikböden Zofingen

villa · Zofingen District, Aargau, Switzerland

What it is
The Roman villa of Zofingen, known locally as the Römerbad, was the largest Roman farming estate found in the canton of Aargau; its mosaic floors still lie where they were laid, inside two small classical shelters built in 1830-31, and they are free to see during the day.
What you’ll see
Three well-preserved mosaic floors, with chequerboard, lozenge and trapezoid patterns and floral motifs, are kept visible in two matching classical shelters (Canton of Aargau Denkmalpflege).
Worth the trip?
Yes, if you like mosaics and are near Zofingen: it costs nothing, the floors are in good condition and in the rooms they decorated, and it takes little time.
Getting there & cost
The shelters stand on the Hirschparkweg in Zofingen (Aargau Tourismus), about 700 m from the town centre. The bus stop Römerbad is mapped about 110 m away and a car park about 90 m (OpenStreetMap).Free · Free · checked 7 October 2026Hours, tickets and parking
Two small classical buildings with columned porches and pediments, painted white, standing on a lawn among trees and cypresses.
The two shelters built in 1830-31 to protect the mosaics. · Photo: Voyager · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A large mosaic floor of black and white geometric patterns, stars and rosettes filling a bright room with arched windows, a railing along one side and a framed building plan on the wall.
The mosaic floor inside the northern shelter. · Photo: Minnou · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A close view of a mosaic of interlocking black hexagons, each enclosing a small flower or leaf, above a border of dark overlapping circles.
Detail of one of the mosaic floors. · Photo: Voyager · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

What is there today

Three well-preserved mosaic floors, with chequerboard, lozenge and trapezoid patterns and floral motifs, are kept visible in two matching classical shelters (Canton of Aargau Denkmalpflege). The mosaics once decorated the main rooms of the residence (Aargau Tourismus). One shelter holds a large floor of star and rosette patterns, with a framed plan on the wall (Wikimedia Commons photograph).

The shelters are worth a look in themselves. They were designed with contributions from Ludwig Pfyffer von Wyher of Lucerne, Albrecht Carl Haller of Bern and Hans Conrad Stadler, and built by the local master builder Siegmund Hürsch and the mason Samuel Wullschleger (Canton of Aargau Denkmalpflege). The mosaics and the shelters on the Hirschparkweg are a cultural property of national significance (de.wikipedia).

Is it worth the trip?

Yes, if you like mosaics and are near Zofingen: it costs nothing, the floors are in good condition and in the rooms they decorated, and it takes little time. It is a small site, two pavilions in a park, so it suits a short stop rather than a day.

Getting there

The shelters stand on the Hirschparkweg in Zofingen (Aargau Tourismus), about 700 m from the town centre. The bus stop Römerbad is mapped about 110 m away and a car park about 90 m (OpenStreetMap). Aargau Tourismus describes the site as freely accessible and open to visit during the day without a ticket; OpenStreetMap gives daily hours of 09.00–17.00, which no operator page confirms (read 7 October 2026).

Visiting details

Opening hours
Open to visit during the day (Aargau Tourismus); OpenStreetMap gives daily 09.00–17.00, which no operator page confirms.
Tickets
Free.
Parking
A car park about 90 m away (OpenStreetMap, way/670555993).

Hours and prices checked 7 October 2026 on the operator's own site. Confirm before travelling.

History

The estate existed from the middle of the 1st century to the 4th century AD (de.wikipedia); the canton’s heritage inventory dates it from around the middle of the 1st century and has it inhabited into the first quarter of the 4th. The mosaic floors were uncovered in 1826-27, and the two shelters were built in 1830-31 to keep them visible while protecting them from the weather (Canton of Aargau Denkmalpflege).

Nearby

  • Low walls of rubble stone forming small rooms under an open timber roof, with rows of short square brick pillars standing in one room and tile slabs laid over pillars in another.

    Photo: Adrian Michael · CC BY 3.0 · Commons

    24 km · villa · Bremgarten District, Aargau

    Roman villa of Sarmenstorf

    Only the bath wing is still visible: after the excavations every other wall was covered over again, and the baths are protected by a shelter (Municipality of Sarmenstorf).

  • Low conserved stone walls of a villa in a meadow, with a long strip of floor patterned in a white grid with circles running along one side towards a higher wall carrying a sign, and flowering trees behind.

    Photo: Umschattiger · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons

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    Roman villa of Munzach

    The estate measured about 160 by 320 m.

  • A gravel passage between massive walls of squared stone leading into a grassy oval arena, with more walls and a grass bank on the far side and a row of poplars behind.

    Photo: Roland zh · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons

    30 km · fort · Brugg District, Aargau

    Vindonissa

    The Legionärspfad, run by Museum Aargau, is the way into the camp: eleven stations through its excavated sites, among them the amphitheatre, reconstructed legionaries' barracks, a gate, the baths and a Roman garden of 450 m² planted with some 40 species documented by archaeology (the operator).

Straight-line distances.

Sources

Every fact on this page comes from the records below, each used under the licence noted.

SourceLicence
Wikidata Q1804343CC0
OpenStreetMap way/225213001ODbL
Wikipedia (de) — Villa rustica (Zofingen)CC BY-SA 4.0
KGS inventory 9561 — Hirzberg, römischer Gutshof mit römischen Mosaikböden in Schutzbauten (BABS)licence not recorded
Canton of Aargau, Denkmalpflege — DSI-ZOF001, Römische Mosaikböden mit Schutzbautenlicence not recorded
Aargau Tourismus — Römische Mosaikbödenlicence not recorded