Discovery Site | Roman Voerendaal - Klimmen

In the southern Limburg town of Voerendaal, you’ll find one of the most impressive archaeological sites in the Netherlands: the Roman villa of Voerendaal-Ten Hove. Built in the 2nd century AD, this villa is considered the largest Roman villa ever discovered in the country. With a front façade of around 190 metres, the villa was bigger than many modern buildings and was strategically located along the Via Belgica – an important Roman road linking Boulogne-sur-Mer to Cologne.

But this villa was more than just a home. The complex included a main building with a colonnade, its own bathhouse, and a grain warehouse – also known as a horreum. The fertile loess soil made the area perfect for large-scale farming. The produce likely wasn’t just for the residents themselves but also served the wider region. Its size and luxury suggest it was owned by someone wealthy, probably with ties to the Roman government or military. The villa had all the hallmarks of a well-organised farming business.

The story of this place goes even further back. As early as the Late Iron Age – between 250 and 50 BC – a moated settlement stood here. It was probably home to a local elite family. Around 50 AD, the first stone villa was built. Over the centuries, it was rebuilt and expanded several times. Even after the Romans left, the site continued to be lived on. Archaeologists found traces of activity right up to the early Middle Ages. Research first began here in 1892 and continued in the 1940s, 50s and 80s. The latest findings, published in 2023, focus on the site’s long history of habitation.

There’s nothing visible above ground today, but the site is still hugely important. Information boards on location explain its fascinating past.