Lecture of Prof. Heimo Dolenz PhD

The Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts and the ZRC SAZU Institute of Archaeology kindly invite you to a lecture by Prof. Dr Heimo Dolenz entitled Banquets for Dionysus: The Collegium Building of Liber Pater and Libera at Virunum and Its Urban Context, to be held on Thursday, 22 October 2026, at 11:00 a.m. in the SAZU Hall.

JeIn the autumn of 2020, a marble inscription measuring 130 × 75 cm was discovered between the amphitheatre and theatre of the municipium Claudium Virunum, situated on the Zollfeld plain. The inscription bears a list of members of the collegium of Liber Pater (Dionysus/Bacchus), one of the most important associations in the capital of the Roman province of Noricum.

Geophysical surveys and archaeological excavations conducted between 2021 and 2025 revealed that a street ran between the theatre and amphitheatre, with at least five buildings belonging to various associations arranged along it. To date, the assembly or banqueting halls (scholae) of the collegium of Liber Pater and Libera and of the worshippers of the goddess Minerva have been identified and archaeologically researched. The eastern wall of the hall of Liber Pater and Libera, which collapsed during the earthquake of AD 234/235, was decorated with figurative wall paintings depicting figures at approximately two-thirds life size. Inscribed stone monuments, once incorporated into the wall, were recovered from the collapse debris, while numerous ritual objects were discovered in a well excavated inside the hall.

The lecture will present the archaeological investigation of these cult buildings and place them within their broader historical, urban and sociological context. It will also address the palaeoseismological circumstances surrounding the discoveries at Virunum.

Prof. Heimo Dolenz PhD is Head of the Archaeology Department at the Carinthian Museum in Klagenfurt and of the Archaeological Park Magdalensberg. His research focuses on the most important Roman archaeological sites in central Carinthia, including Magdalensberg, Virunum, St Michael am Zollfeld and Radnig in the Gail Valley. His research interests encompass chronological issues, the beginnings of the Roman period, early Christianity, architecture, epigraphic monuments, craft workshops and, in particular, metal artefacts. His monograph on the archaeological finds from Karnburg extended his research into the medieval period, while his long-term excavations at Carthage have taken his work into the Roman world of North Africa.

The lecture will be held in English. No interpretation will be provided.

The event will be recorded and/or photographed for promotional and reporting purposes, including publication on the website of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.