[4] Comparable to a large number of rustic villas in Italy and Spain, Milreu distinguished itself as a luxury complex due to its extensive and pompous mosaic decorations, ancient imperial busts, a temple devoted to a water deity, a stunning garden and winery and oil processing mills.

[3][4] Later excavations emphasized a long tradition of worship in Milreu, demonstrating that after the 6th century the building was transformed into a Christian church; the courtyard was also used as a cemetery during the Muslim occupation.

[3] On the 23rd of June 2001, a public tender was issued for remodelling the 16th-century rural house, to construct an interpretative centre, which was won by architects Ditza Reis and Pedro Serra Alves.

[3] A thermal spa includes a sequence of apodyterium, frigidarium, circular bathing pool, tepidarium and caldarium decorated with mosaics (one with oblong fish designs).

[3] The ruins of an aquatic sanctuary include an altar that served as paleo-Christian church, as indicated from the presence of a baptismal pool and a small mausoleum on the patio.