Ancient City Carantiacum-Roman Villa

The first traces of the villa were discovered during water pipe work in 1893, including a large column from the entrance area. However, it was not until the demolition of several modern houses in 1983 that the southwest corner of the main building with an adjacent water basin could be uncovered by the Freiburg branch of the State Office for Monument Preservation, with the support of the Archaeology Working Group of the Local History Association. In the course of the excavations, over two-meter-high wall sections, marble profiles of doors and windows, and remains of wall paintings depicting a motif from Roman mythology in life-size figures came to light on the property. Further excavations in the surrounding area revealed evidence of at least four outbuildings of the manor house, apparently the associated economy and servants' quarters. The entire estate once covered an area of approximately 8570 m². However, large parts of the complex are now covered by existing buildings and roads.

Since the large Roman colony of Augusta Raurica was located directly on the opposite Swiss side of the Upper Rhine, it is assumed that this was the country estate ("villa urbana") of a wealthy Roman citizen from the upper class. It is believed that the place name Grenzach, Roman Carantiacum (Estate of Carantius), derives from a former owner of the villa.

The museum has existed since 1986 in a protective building constructed over the remains of the villa. The establishment of the museum was significantly driven by Erhard Richter. The museum is managed by the Archaeology Working Group of the Grenzach-Wyhlen Local History Association, which also initiated the museum building and organized its financing. The owner of the Römervilla is the municipality of Grenzach-Wyhlen; by law, the finds belong to the state. Concerts and art exhibitions also take place in the space.

A selection of archaeological finds from the site and from neighboring sites is also displayed in the museum's showcases, for example, a small bronze horse head, a glass vessel, shell ornaments in painted stucco moldings (unique in all of Baden-Württemberg), a bronze lock plate, bronze fibulae, and turned bone implements such as needles, needle cases, and spindle whorls, everyday tools such as a hoe, leather knives, and chisels, as well as evidence of sophisticated dining culture such as murex snail shells and oyster shells. Coins of Vespasian (69–79 AD) and Septimius Severus (193–211 AD) for his wife Julia Domna and Terra Sigillata (high-quality tableware) from the potteries of La Graufesenque in Southern Gaul and Rheinzabern (Tabernae) in Eastern Gaul indicate that the villa was founded in the 1st century AD and existed until the third quarter of the 3rd century. A "Nemausus coin" (Nemausus, today's Nîmes in Southern France, had an important mint in Roman times) comes from a neighboring villa partially excavated in 1936.

From late 2009 to 2010, the museum was re-conceptualized with support from, among others, the Archaeological State Museum in Konstanz and its branch in Rastatt, as well as the Basel exhibition designer Ursula Gillmann, and the exhibition objects were scientifically cataloged.