Location
The complex is situated in the fabulous location of the Giara of Serri, on the basalt rock plateau stretching between the Campidano and the Gennargentu regions about 60 km. north of Cagliari.
Amongst the evidence of Nuraghic culture in the VIII and VI centuries B.C., the S. Victoria sanctuary definitely deserves to be noted. At the top of the Giara and near the little medieval church, you’ll find the remains of fortified walls and numerous nuraghic towers and loopholes. The walls contain about 50 circular-shaped huts, some of which were probably dedicated to public offices, as well as a monumental holy well for religious worship.
Importance
S.Victory of Serri is the most interesting example of a sacred, nuraghic complex inserted in an urban context. Its monumental style suggests it might have been the meeting point for all communities and groups in the surrounding areas. Its architectural style is also significant and includes one of the best examples of “well” temple. Concerning its civil architecture, shapes used for thousand years in key people’s residences and in the meeting places were found on part of the large arcaded enclosure.
The Sanctuary and the Assemblies
To the north of the “group of double betilus” we find a building in which the superintendent of the sanctuary probably lived; it includes a rectangular vestibule, solid walls reinforced with big stones and three niches inside a comfortable alcove.
At the south-eastern extremity of the village is a big circular building with a shielding roof called the “hut of the federal assemblies”; it’s the largest nuraghic hut-type area known. This building’s structure reminds us of Barumini's Council Room; as in Barumini, a bench runs along the entire length of the inner walls to accommodate the notables gathered for big, religious celebrations and the inter-federal reunions. Niches appear in the walls together with three objects used in the rituals:
• a rectangular basin
• a stone bowl
• a betilus
The artefacts found inside the assembly room are the same types as those in Barumini:
• the remains of sacrifices with ashes and animal bones
• bronze animal statuettes
• terracotta and bronze weapons
The uniqueness of the Temple of Serri
This type of structure is fairly common in nuraghic Sardinia. The case of S. Vittoria appears unique because the sacred well was encompassed by a large federal sanctuary. The temple is closed in by a megalithic-structured elliptic fence that completely surrounds it leaving an open space for the entrance. The 2 m x 2 m square atrium with its floor in white limestone slabs, has lateral benches on which offerings can be deposited and a stone table with a hole in the middle from which the sacrifice’s blood (or the libation’s liquid) flowed into a hole dug out of the rocky ground. From the stairway with 13 steps in basaltic stone, you access the tholos formed by 20 rows of stones placed in rings. It is believed that the building was covered by a large mound of beaten earth and that only the tholos’ tambour and the vestibule’s wings emerged on the country flatland.
This most interesting material found in the sacred well’s atrium is conserved in Cagliari’s Archaeological Museum.
The bronze statuettes found in Serri
These figurines belong to the geometric style and are extremely interesting and meaningful.
• a tribe Chief
• an archer
• a woman sitting on a stool holding a child
• a person making an offering, holding flask a hung on a cord
• statues of birds
• statues of quadrupeds
• remains of an oil lantern’s stem in the form of a votive boat
The group of the double Betilus
About 1/2 km. east of the fence is a group of nine circular rooms positioned around a square courtyard, one of which had a double betilus formed with two cone-shaped columns united under their summits by a strip of hollowed squares. This group of rooms, which is known as "the group of the double betilus", reminds us of the multi-celled dwellings of the contemporary phase of the village of Barumini.
