This paper aims to investigate the tensions between “religion at home”, local cults and Empire religion with a starting point of the cult of the matrons - figurines located both in domestic and public contexts. The material used are altar stone reliefs and terracotta figurines of the matrons from the northwestern Roman provinces during the Empire period focusing on terracotta figurines in order to illuminate the domestic contexts. The sources are connected to temples, roads and houses; most of them in urban regions; in spite of the multipresence in practice there is no evidence in any written literature though. Public altar stone reliefs are most often treated as dedications, sometimes as “do ut des- magic” with its problems of the old fashioned evolutionary approach. What about the domestic contexts? In what way may interpretations of the domestic ritual actions help us to reevaluate the complex and multifaceted cult of the matrons looking at sources as an entity? Connecting public and domestic acts of ritualization hopefully contributes to a more appropriate analysis both of the diversity and the consistency of the imaginative knowledge. Theories and methods of the paper are inspired by visual arts as part of a material culture highlighting socio-cultural dimensions of the Empire time trying to look beyond concepts of deities as the main matter of religious encounters.