The Specularia project aims to unravel the mysteries of window glass manufacture in Roman times. With the help of specialized glass artisans, it intends to reconstruct, in real-life conditions, the entire glass production chain in Roman times: the craftsmen's gestures, their working conditions, the time needed to produce a pane of glass, the cost involved, the materials used.... This project is run in partnership with Malagne, the Rochefort archaeopark, with the support of the Loterie Nationale, the AGC Glass company and the Musée du Verre de la Ville de Charleroi.

The project is led by Professor Julian Richard and his PhD student Géraldine Frère (UNamur-Musée du Verre de Charleroi) within the Department of Archaeology and Art Sciences at UNamur.

Your support made it possible to purchase the materials needed to build the two "antique" glass furnaces at the Malagne archaeopark, and to fund the work of the craftsmen who supported the scientific team to produce a large number of "Roman" windows in the presence of the general public. The two furnaces are now part of the archaeopark's educational trail, documented by a didactic panel and a brochure, to inform the thousands of schoolchildren and students who visit the archaeopark every year. The project has been the subject of a documentary broadcast in Belgium and internationally, and its results have already been shared at several scientific conferences. They will be revealed in full in Géraldine Frère's doctoral thesis (2025).