Wall Paintings for a Roman Experience

For the permanent exhibition at Museum Cultuurforum Aardenburg, I created a series of large-scale wall illustrations reconstructing daily life in Roman Aardenburg.

The murals form an important visual layer within the museum experience, placing archaeological objects and research into scenes of housing, bathing, domestic life and the Roman military.

Large-scale Roman wall illustration created for Museum Cultuurforum Aardenburg

Client
Museum Cultuurforum Aardenburg
Location
Aardenburg, Netherlands
Period
Roman period
Project type
Archaeological illustration and heritage visualisation
Collaboration
Steve Martin, Wim Westphaal en Jill Schelleman
Deliverable
Large-scale wall illustrations for a permanent exhibition

Roman daily life illustration displayed in Museum Cultuurforum Aardenburg

Museum wall illustration visualising Roman life in Aardenburg

Detail of a Roman reconstruction mural at Museum Cultuurforum Aardenburg

Turning archaeological evidence into everyday life

The illustrations show how people in Rodanum, the Roman settlement that once stood in Aardenburg, may have lived, worked, dressed and celebrated.

Details such as clothing, bathhouses, domestic interiors and the layout of Roman homes were developed from archaeological and historical research and discussed closely with the museum team.

The aim was not simply to decorate the exhibition, but to help visitors understand the objects on display by placing fragmented archaeological finds back into a recognisable human setting.

Detail from a Roman wall painting in the permanent exhibition at Aardenburg

Archaeological illustration showing a scene from Roman daily life

Roman heritage visualisation installed at Museum Cultuurforum Aardenburg

Large reconstruction mural showing Roman life in Aardenburg

Museum mural reconstructing the environment of Roman Aardenburg

Roman wall illustration installed in Museum Cultuurforum Aardenburg
Detail of the permanent Roman exhibition in Aardenburg

Overview of a large archaeological reconstruction mural in the museum exhibition

Permanent exhibition at Museum Cultuurforum Aardenburg featuring Roman reconstruction illustrations

Illustration as part of the museum experience

Because the illustrations are integrated directly into the exhibition space, they work together with archaeological finds, texts and displays rather than functioning as standalone artworks.

Their role is to provide visitors with visual context and to make the everyday world behind the archaeological material easier to understand.