S a L V e O N THe STRaSSeN sAlve DeR RÖMeR

Here Europe is investing in the rural economy Welcome to the Strassen der Römer

Contents

03 Welcome to the Strassen der Römer 04 Signs of Roman life 10 Mosella 12 Wanderlust in all its variations 14 Celebrating with the Romans 16 Interview with the Roman "Gladiator Hercules" 19 enjoy Roman delights 22 Wine in an ancient "kilner jar" 22 Cheers to Rufus, the wine merchant 25 ancient motorways 28 Walking on thematic trails 34 Maps 40 All the attractions at a glance 45 Impressum 45 Tips tour by car

P age 2 Foto: Yaph/TI Trier Yaph/TI Foto: Nowhere else north of the Alps is there such a concentration of relicts from the Roman Empire Welcome to the Strassen der Römer

ere begins your journey into the ancient world, into the heart of Gaul, part of the Roman HEmpire. Mighty Roman emperors ruled in Trier, the first vines were cultivated in the Mosel valley, and major routes ran over the highlands of the Eifel, Hunsrück and Hochwald to the most important cities of the age. Some 100 remains from the period are still visible and are testimony to the dense population and great wealth, are evidence of the abundance of the fine Roman way of life. It is an archaeological park of extraordinary dimensions and rich variety. And today? It is a long time since a Roman emperor ruled in Trier. But the heart of Europe beats in Luxembourg. It was here on the Mosel that the Schengen Agreement was signed, opening up Europe’s internal frontiers and giving a whole new flair to the border region. The imposing old buildings of the imperial residence are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and attract innumerable tourists. The wines from the Mosel are among the finest in the world, and naturally taste particularly good when enjoyed where the vines grow. The flat river valleys of the Mosel, Saar and Ruwer are particularly suitable for enjoying cycle tours. One of the most beautiful long-distance footpaths in all of Germany, the Saar-Hunsrück Trail, takes you through the Saar-Hunsrück Nature Park. Volcanic activity has left its mark on the Eifel holiday region, and although the peaks and craters are long since inactive, they are now home to lakes, some of which invite you to bathe in them, and form an impressive backdrop for an active holiday. Today numerous premium and thematic footpaths provide access COLOGNE to the ancient cultural landscape of the Strassen der Römer, and let you relax in the various nature parks. A61 The towns in the region are modern, but also have a deep history. They are all A3 worth visiting and provide an excellent opportunity to enjoy a gentle shopping KOBLENZ trip. Many of the sites in the holiday region have been listed by UNESCO as being

of particular significance, for example the Roman monuments in Trier and Igel, Eifel A48 Rhine

the fortification and old town of the banking metropolis of Luxembourg, the Mosel A61 Völkinger Hütte with its unique ensemble of the old iron works, and the E42

Bliesgau Biosphere Reserve. Sauer Mosel- Saar

In short: a holiday on the Strassen der Römer means relaxing tours of TRIER Hunsrück discovery in an area of special natural interest, taking in culture across A1

R borders, while enjoying the best wines and the numerous restaurants, uwer Luxemburger from the down-to-earth to award-winning cuisine. Mosel REMERSCHEN

A1 Let yourself be surprised … Saar Saarland Mosel SCHWARZENACKER BLIESBRUCK- REINHEIM France More information is to be found on the internet at www.strassen-der-roemer.eu METZ

P age 3 SI G N S Along the Mosel, Saar and Rhine, the Roman Empire has left more numerous and varied traces than anywhere else in O F Northwest Europe. ROM A N LIFE

Precious objects that belonged to the owner of the villa at Perl-Borg; right: the Porta Nigra

P age 4 P age 5 Top: The temple in Tawern, mosaic in Otrang Roman villa (Fliessem) Centre: Constaninian painted ceiling in the Museum am Dom (Trier); Dalheim Roman theatre (Luxembourg); underground heating and service passages in the Imperial baths (Kaiserthermen) (Trier) Bottom: Fragment of wall painting from Kenn Roman villa Right: Roman aqueduct (Mechernich-Vussem); Constantine’s basilica (Trier)

P age 6 nderfloor heating, winemaking, aqueducts and road Unetworks – the Romans brought many things with them when they arrived and settled on the Mosel, Saar and Rhine over 2,000 years ago. On its victorious campaigns Rome did more than just extend her empire and move its frontiers. Its rulers were like missionaries in the way that they brought the blessings of Roman culture to the regions they conquered. Furthermore, Romans who moved to the new provinces did not want to give up the moderns comforts and their customary way of life, and so made sure that their new home was “typically Roman” – thus leaving behind numerous traces from all aspects of their life: transport infrastructure, residential areas, large agricultural installations and palaces with running water, underfloor and wall heating, as well as impressive artistic decoration, streets and roadside settlements, mines and quarries, temples and burials, baths and aqueducts. In addition, the showcases of museums house jewellery, vases, bowls, works of art and all sorts of everyday articles. All of these sights provide very different insights into the life of the Romans. Soon after their arrival in the Celtic lands, the Romans already started to extend the existing road network and built metalled roads to facilitate troop movements and as trading routes. Some of them still survive today and bear witness to the logistics and engineering ability of the Romans. As if drawn with a ruler, some of them run straight as a die through woods and across plains, or cross rivers and valleys on bridges. A number of them are still used by traffic today – for example the Roman bridge in Trier, which is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Romans procured their building materials nearby, and numerous quarries and mines are testimony to the industry and the technical abilities of the time: the site at Meurin is a particularly good example, and the Emilianus mine is well preserved. Of course, the stone was not only used to build bridges and streets, but was also used for buildings such as the famous Porta Nigra in Trier. Along the roads, at a distance of more or less one day’s journey, and at important crossroads, vici were established, roadside settlements and ancient services. At the site of the excavations in the vicus of Tabernae, modern Tawern, you can see what sort of facilities and buildings were important then. There were smithies, storage facilities for provisions, and wells. Part of the settlement at Swarzenacker has been reconstruc- ted and provides a vivid impression of the old trading and staging post. Even in those days, people who stopped over briefly in such vici wanted to be entertained. As well as taverns, there were sometimes theatres such as the one in the vicus at Dalheim in Luxembourg. Some of the houses in the vici were quite comfortably furnished and equipped with underfloor and wall heating, as well as elaborate baths.

P age 7 imilarly luxurious installations are also to be found in the baths not only served as places for people to wash and groom remains of the rural farmsteads, some of which were almost palace-like themselves, they were also social meeting points. Thanks to the many Sin their dimensions. As a rule it was the Roman families who lived in ruins, for example the Kaiser- and Barbarathermen in Trier, we can the stylish central buildings, which were decorated with mosaics, reconstruct the elaborate bathing ritual: first you went into the while their slaves and employees lived in the more simple quarters. lukewarm tepidarium, then into the hot calidarium, before finally The stalls and storage buildings were near the fields and pastures. cooling off in the frigidarium. Wellness was already of great Many of the villas had underground cellars where provisions such as importance to the Romans. The many sanctuaries and remains of grain, fruit, vegetables and meat were stored, as well as the wine that temples in the region reflect the important role that religion played the Romans made on the Mosel. The reconstruction of the villa at for the Romans and Celts at the time. Before Christianity established Borg provides a detailed impression of what life was like then in the itself, and the emperor Constantine donated Trier Cathedral, a countryside. Here you can enjoy a Roman kitchen, baths and gardens, multi-cultural religious community lived here, worshipping and and even eat in a Roman tavern, while the villas at Otrang and Nennig tolerating numerous gods side by side. There were also many different have splendid mosaics. Some of the rural establishments had their own forms of burial and types of tombs: there were burial mounds, wineries, for wine was one of the Romans’ favourite drinks, as funerary temples, extravagant tombstones, ash cists and stone numerous finds in the region confirm. Villas with their own baths also sarcophagi. But overall they all had one thing in common: they were always had their own water supplies, which were part of an enormous highly visible, situated along roads and at exposed sites. Grave goods network that reveals the full extent of the Romans’ skills. The water such as pottery, jewellery, weapons and tools provide a glimpse of flowed not just underground, but also across the countryside and over what during their lifetime was important to those buried here. And wide valleys on high aqueducts. The incline was exactly calculated that was not all that different to how it is today, as can be seen from metre for metre so that the water always flowed in the right direction. the various different attractions on the Rhine, Mosel and Saar. Towns and farms were supplied with water, and baths operated. Public Alexandra Wolters

P age 8 Left: funerary temple in Bech-Kleinmacher, mosaic in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Trier, European Culture Park Bliesbruck- Reinheim, temple of the Matrons in Görres- burg, Nettersheim; top: object from a burial in St. Aldegud, now in the Landesmuseum, Koblenz, Roman villa urbana in Longuich

P age 9 imperial honour which graces their city, Trier: river, whose hills are o'ergrown with Bacchus' fragrant vines, o'ergrown, river most verdant, thy banks with turf: ship-bearing as the sea, with green vines. The people, happy in their toil, with sloping waters gliding as a river, and with and the restless husbandmen are busy, now on thy crystal depths the peer of lakes, brooks thou the hill-top, now on the slope, exchanging shouts canst match for hurrying flow, cool springs in boisterous rivalry. Here the wayfarer tramping surpass for limpid draughts; one, thou hast all along the low-lying bank, and there the that belongs to springs, brooks, rivers, lakes, bargeman floating by, troll their rude jests at and tidal Ocean with his ebb and flow. Thou, the loitering vine-dressers; and all the hills, and with calm waters onward gliding, feel'st not any shivering woods, and channelled river, ring with murmurs of the wind nor check from hidden their cries. had crossed over swift-flowing rocks; nor by foaming shallows art thou forced Nor does the scenery of this region please Nahe's cloudy stream and gazed with awe upon to hurry on in swirling rapids, no eyots hast thou men alone; I can believe that here the rustic Ithe ramparts lately thrown round ancient jutting in mid-stream to thwart thy course Satyrs and the grey-eyed Nymphs meet together Bingen, where gaul once matched the Roman — lest the glory of thy due title be impaired, on the border of the stream, when the rout at Cannae and where her slaughtered if any isle sunder and stem thy flow. goat-footed Pans are seized with merry ribaldry, hordes lay scattered over the country-side For thee two modes of voyaging are appointed: and splashing in the shallows, frighten the untended and unwept. Thence onward this, when boats move down thy stream with trembling sister-Nymphs beneath the stream, I began a lonely journey through pathless forest, current favouring and their oars thrash the while they thresh the water with unskilful nor did my eyes rest on any trace of human churned waters at full speed; that, when along strokes. Oft also, when she has stolen clusters inhabitants. I passed Kirchberg sweltering the banks, with tow-rope never slackening, the from the inland hills, Panope, the river lady, amid its parched fields, and Tabernae, watered boatmen strain on their shoulders hawsers with a troop of Oread friends, flees the wanton by its unfailing spring, and the lands lately bound to the masts. Thyself how often dost Fauns, gods of the country-side. and it is said parcelled out to Sarmatian settlers. and at thou marvel at the windings of thine own stream, that when the sun's fiery orb stops in the midst length on the very verge of gallia Belgica and think its natural speed moves almost too of his course, the Satyrs and the sister-Nymphs Prima I descry Neumagen, the famed camp slowly ! Thou with no mud-grown sedge fringest of the crystal depths meet here beside the stream of sainted Constantine. Clearer the air which thy banks, nor with foul ooze o'er- spread'st thy and ply the dance in partnership, what time the here invests the plains and Phoebus, cloudless marge; dry is the treading down to thy water's fiercer heat affords them hours set free from now, discloses glowing heaven with his edge. (…) For from the topmost ridge to the foot mortal company. Then, wantonly frolicking amid untroubled light. No longer is the sky to seek, of the slope the river-side is thickly planted their native waters, the Nymphs duck the Satyrs shut out by the green gloom of branches intertwined: but the free breath of transparent day withholds not sight of the sun's pure rays and of the aether, dazzling to the eyes. Nay more, the whole gracious prospect made me behold a picture of my own native land, the smiling and well-tended country of Bordeaux - the roofs of country-houses, perched high upon the overhanging river-banks, the hill-sides green with vines, and the pleasant stream of Moselle MOSeLLain the waves, and slip away right through the gliding below with subdued murmuring. hands of those unskilful swimmers, as, baffled, Hail, river, blessed by the fields, blessed by the husbandmen, to whom the Belgae owe the

P age 10 they seek to grasp their slippery limbs and, instead of bodies, embrace yielding waves. But of these things which no man has looked upon and no eye beheld, be it no sin for me to speak in part: let things secret be kept hid, and let ➔ the poem Reverence dwell unspied upon, in the safe- “Mosella”, some 1,650 years old, is a keeping of her native streams. Yon is a sight that priceless literary monument that gives us a very lively insight into the region in Roman may be freely enjoyed: when the azure river times. It is thought to have been written mirrors the shady hill, the waters of the stream about Ad 370, when Roman culture and seem to bear leaves and the flood to be all literature enjoyed a final heyday. At the same time, the threat from the tribes who o'ergrown with shoots of vines. What a hue is on lived beyond the Rhine was omnipresent the waters when Hesperus has driven forward the and is echoed in the first verses. lagging shadows and overspreads Moselle with The poet and scholar Ausonius was born in Bordeaux (Burdigalia) between 300 and 310, the green of the reflected height! Whole hills and so was already between 60 and 70 years float on the shivering ripples: here quivers the old when he wrote the “Mosella”. In the far-off tendril of the vine, here in the glassy flood mid-30s he practiced as a lawyer and grammarian in his home town, later as a swells the full cluster. The deluded boatman tells rhetorician, and was married to the daughter o'er the green vines - the boatman whose skiff of of a respected senator, with whom he had bark floats on the watery floor out in mid-stream, three children. After he had spent some 30 years in Bordeaux as a highly regarded where the pictured hill blends with the river and teacher and promoting Latin literature, in where the river joins with the edges of the Ad 365 he was called to the imperial court shadows. and when oared skiffs join in mimic in Trier by Emperor Valentinian to educate the prince Gratian. In 368 he accompanied battle in mid-stream, how pleasing is the pageant the Emperor and his son on their campaign which this sight affords! They circle in and out, against the Alamanni. At the same time he and graze the sprouting blades of the cropped embarked on a political career and in 379 he was even appointed consul. In 375 Emperor turf along the green banks. The husbandman, Valentinain died, and in 383 his successor standing upon the rise of the green bank, watches Gratian was murdered. At a ripe old age the light-hearted owners as they leap about on Ausonius returned to Bordeaux and there wrote several late works. stem or prow, the boyish crew straggling over the river's wide expanse, and never feels the day is slipping by, but puts their play before his

MOSeLLabusiness, while present pleasure shuts out past cares.

P age 11 Wanderlust in all its variations

SPeageite 12 in t h e vAried lAndsCApes o f mosel, e i f e l, hunsrÜCk And sAAr A l l kinds o f treAsures Are wAiting to b e d i s Covered.

The warm sun shines through the vines that is now a hotel and the new european course there was the panorama across the that cover the courtyard; the contents of Museum.” as the wine glasses are refilled, meander in the Saar.” – “I enjoyed the section the six tall-stemmed glasses glisten golden the hikers tell their tales. “Last year we to Losheimer See most; above all because of on the simple wooden table in the traditional walked part of the Via ausonia, but this the Kneipp facility with the barefoot path”, rustic inn. Chance has brought the six year it was the Saar-Hunsrück-Steig that the male hiker adds. “We were on the road guests together, as they enjoy the hearty caught our eye”, one of the women with her for nine days all told, and covered some 14.5 winemaker’s specialities and recount to rough boots smiles, “in particular the section kilometres on average. at grimburger Hof each other their impressions and experiences from Perl to we took the Trier variant. Today we’ve come as they tour the varied landscape of the Saar Mettlach.” from the Ruwer Valley, and we have only an and Mosel, Hunsrück and eifel on foot or – hour or so ahead of us until we reach our bicycle, tell of the sights in the nature accommodation.” The cyclists also reserves, half-timbered villages, castles, plan to spend the night in monasteries and industrial monuments, germany’s oldest town. as well as the remains of the Romans “We won’t be and Celts. One of the cyclists enthuses back in about the discoveries he made on the the Via agrippa, one of the old Roman roads: “Suddenly, in the middle of the woods in the eifel, there was a section of the ancient Langmauer. and at one point I even saw traces of the old roadway in the rock beside the road; you could see the worked stones of the arches quite clearly.” – “This time we’ve “The programme was a really been to see the ancient mosaic and the wonderful contrast” the other enthuses: saddle until the day Roman archaeological park at Borg”, “The path led through vineyards and old after tomorrow. Then we’ll peddle gently the other two cyclists reply. ”after that we woodlands, across meadows of orchids, past along the Mosel Valley – perhaps as far as made a detour to Schengen. But not only idyllic ponds and even a waterfall. The Koblenz.” to try the Luxembourg variant of the Mosel passage through the wild, romantic Steinbach wines. We really wanted to see the castle Valley was particularly beautiful – and of Rita Henss

P age 13 Holidays in honour of the gods, the anniver- saries of great battles and victories, dedication feasts and birthdays – the calendar of Roman festivals was long. The Romans enjoyed celebrating whenever they could, and many of the festivals lasted several days. entertainment and good food played an important role in such occasions, and depending on just what and how large the occasion was, the festivities Top: Roman camp on the could include processions and rituals, contests, Katzenberg; left /bottom: Roman games and chariot races, theatrical performances, festival at Perl-Borg villa poems and songs, presents and feasting. Many of these elements are part of the Roman festivals along the Mosel and Saar, in Saarland Celebrating with the Romans

P age 14 and the eifel, when Roman festivities and as well as theatrical performances. against take part in contests, or write with a stylus on everyday life are presented and performed, historical backdrops such as the Roman villa in papyrus. Hands on history lessons – for child- and can be experienced. In chainmail shirt Borg the draw of Roman times is particularly ren, in particular, this is an entertaining way to or breastplate, in toga or tunic – but always strong. But so too food and drink let visitors learn and retain knowledge. But it is not only with sandals on their feet: every year people feel a little like Romans themselves: there are during festivals that you can travel in time don the historical clothing of the Romans, in not only freshly baked Roman flatbreads along the Strassen der Römer. accurate recon- order to bring the epoch back to life. But they with olive paste and sweet cereal porridge, structions of buildings and installations don’t only wear Roman fashion, they also be- there is also sweet honeyed wine. Particular provide graphic insights into Roman life. have according to the customs that were the attention is paid to employing original Today many museums and archaeological rule here in western germany some 2,000 methods of preparation wherever possible. parks rely on this combination of information years ago. Heroically, they fight as gladiators You can grind the flour yourself with heavy and entertainment: here you can not only in the arena, as legionaries they defeat entire millstones – tough work that in Roman times marvel at the finds, but also at many technical armies, forge their swords in the fire, sharpen was often done by slaves or the poorer citizens. wonders, as well as see just how Roman mighty spears, throw wine jugs on the potter’s Trying things is an important part of Roman inventions worked. wheel, bake bread – and thereby transport festivals: for example, not only can you taste thousands of people to another world. The Roman delicacies, but often you can also try Alexandra Wolters highlights of many festivals are the your hand at the potter’s wheel, try on a demonstrations by gladiators and legionaries, gladiator’s equipment or a toga, forge metals,

➔ tip: festivAls Schwarzenacker : every year at the beginning of May: Open day Celtic Ringwall Nonn- weiler-Otzenhausen: every other year in summer (uneven years): Celtic festival Excavation project Roman vicus “Wares- wald”, Tholey: 4th weekend in June: Excavation festival as part of the Roman festival Römerwarte Katzenberg, Mayen: 3rd weekend in July: Roman camp Archaeo- logical Park Borg Roman Villa, Perl-Borg: 1st weekend in August: Roman festial, European Culture Park Bliesbruck-Reinheim, Gersheim-Reinheim: 2nd weekend in August: ancient spectacular Information at www.strassen-der-roemer.eu Fictional interview with Jan Krüger, talking to Susanne Rendenbach INTeRVIeW WITH THe ROMaN gLaDIaTOR HeRCULeS

We are in the amphitheatre in Trier, at hand women will flock to you. They associate the end of the 1st century aD. Hercules the strength, courage, and of course virility with this gladiator, who also runs a school for gladiators, profession. To put it bluntly: in the arena you is preparing himself for a forthcoming fight. are the people’s hero, they cheer you on and a young man, a normal citizen who is interested are proud when you leave it as the victor. But in learning to be a gladiator, has obtained an outside the gates of the arena people sometimes “audience” with Hercules and asks him the don’t know you any more, in particular questions which interest him most. members of the upper social classes.

Tell me, Hercules, is it true that a successful But you’re a hero in the arena! How have gladiator is surrounded by money, fame and managed to get so far? riches? Hard work and hard training. But most Well, my young friend, there are differences. important of all is the good training I received The most important point is whether you enter in the ludus, one of the large, highly respected the arena as a slave, or as a free man, as I do. gladiatorial schools in Rome. There I learned

And have you attained wealth and fame? the essential skills that I need and use today when I fight – and which means that I am Let me put it this way: I do all right. But specialised in the role of the provocator. wealth is perhaps something of an exaggeration. after all, don’t forget that every time you fight, What exactly is that role? you have to negotiate your salary anew Like many others it is derived from a military with whoever is engaging you. Some model. as the name suggests, as provocator I are good at it, others less so. and as for assume the offensive at close quarters and adopt fame: that really depends on whom a very dynamic position. My aim is always to you want to impress. stab my opponent so that he can no longer fight,

What do you mean? and my rectangular shield is my offensive weapon. Well, there is one thing that you must understand: as soon as you’ve signed And what does the rest of your equipment look the contract for a gladiatorial contest like? you lose your citizenship. Some I have a short sword with a blade some 30-40 members of your family won’t even centimetres long, or a long dagger, wear a visor, want to have anything more to do a breastplate, a greave, protection on my right with you, for gladiators have a rather arm and the smooth helmet of the provocator. ambivalent reputation. On the other

P age 16 INTeRVIeW WITH THe ROMaN gLaDIaTOR HeRCULeS

And do you pray to a god before you enter the arena? No, I don’t do that. above all I believe in myself. But many other gladiators pray to Mars.

Are you never afraid during a fight? Young man, fear is a particularly bad companion. Fear lames you. What I sometimes feel when I have a strong opponent is respect. That stops you losing your head when you make the next move.

And what’s it like, standing down there in the arena when the people cheer you on? That is an indescribable feeling, young fellow. You should try to find that out for yourself. But for now I will only reveal so much: to prove how good and superior you are, and at the end to receive the victor’s palm from whoever is giving the games, is one of the most precious feelings imaginable, and one that you soon get addicted to.

➔ tip Jan Krüger is one of the few “real” gladiators in Germany and runs a school for gladiators in Trier. Ho offers groups a 75-minute long introduction to the equipment, training, mental preparation and fighting techniques. Krüger is an actor and gained his enthusiasm for Roman history and the high art of the gladiator during his appearances at the Trier Adventure Performances and “Bread and Circuses”. Information at www.strassen-der-roemer.eu

P age 17 FOR SCHOOLS ANd KINdERGARTENS This makes Roman times Europ. Culture Park really exciting

Europ. Culture Park

Dig up the past with your own hands Vulkanpark Slip into historical roles Play and learn about Roman everyday life Cook old recipes and taste the past Make your own Roman artwork

Pützlöcher

Nothing sticks in the mind better than when you discover, experience, create and try it out yourself. Why not learn from history? Only if you understand the past properly can you learn from its successes and failures, and meaningfully shape the future. It’s just like education for sustainable development. Museums, monuments, excavations – the places of learning outside the school on the Strassen der Römer offer activities for all ages. Whether it’s a project for the kindergarten or the school, excursions or trips with the class –

at www.strassen-der-roemer.eu you can choose from a wide Roman Museum Schwarzenacker range of educational possibilities.

P age 18

Celtic fortifi cation eNJOY ROMaN DeLIgHTS

P age 19 Wild companions with long hair, hard-fighting roughnecks from the N north who time and again made trouble for the Greeks, Romans and other civilisations – this is the picture that many people have of the Celts. This is certainly partly due to the fact that the historians in the ancient world were Greeks and Romans, while we have no texts written by the Celts. Julius Caesar’s account of his campaigns, “The Gallic War”, has done much to shape the picture. But the Celts probably would have described themselves rather more favourably: as excellent miners and metal workers, brave warriors, fine horsemen, and people with style and taste. And they had a high opinion of the delights of the regions south of the Alps. Several centuries before Julius Caesar set out to conquer Gaul in the year 57 BC, the Celts living along the Mosel and Saar, in the Hunsrück and Eifel enjoyed southern luxury. By the bucket.

Villa Borg

P age 20 Villa Borg N vineyards are today destinations popular for ramblers who there enjoy the unrivalled ofa2,000yearcultural views old landscape. during their lifetimes, the while ofthe slopes vineyards sites prized temples for Roman alast resting were funerary and graves in highly the place: the mustported and the wine to warehouses the large in the towns. The wine merchants were wealthy who impressive built people monuments wineries with presses huge directly at the ofthe foot steep that slopes today still ensure an excellent microclimate for growing vines. Boats trans- triedalready their hand butat winemaking, it was with the arrival of the Romans that professional winemaking built They was finally established. The demandand food. oftheir parts for for itas too, the wine rations. legionariesreceived was large Perhaps the Treveri and other Celts had drink for thean everyday Romans. towns The large with their quickly supply growing ofmore populations than agood required drinking water ancient world. E swathes of the Metz area between and Koblenz, and wine was the product that was most often mentioned in accounts ofthe Mosel in the region But the longest-lasting souvenir that the Romans brought to the ofthe realm Mosel and the Saar issurely the vine. Today vines still dominate large thatdishes the ancient Romans and the “occupied” Celts wouldhave greatly appreciated. akind ofancient round “Maggi”. all fish, was apopular seasoning, today inspire Oldrecipes in to the create chefs region their own dishes, demand, travelling hundreds ofkilometres from the seato arrive on the table. “ here, from andcuisinebenefitted the impulses local from the entire Roman E production Harvesting offood. machines were even employed. Domesticated plants from the south chestnuts, –almonds, –were now figs grown to. spectrum There country added estates was also The large culinary was notjust (villa rustica) roast wild the boar: large-scale guaranteed imperial administration, bringing their customs with them and mixing with the G from the entire E baths, theatres and Temples sports facilities. at important cross-roads and prominent the worship People of Roman sitesand Celticserved gods. A network ofwell-built roadstownsTowns connected and villages. Trier, such as Metz and Koblenz were with founded, buildings, magnificent expansion the Saar brought toand between the the Rhine,the region Vosges and the E may havecervisia made iteasier for some Celts to put up with ofthe the victors, rule but at ifwe the look situation more soberly, Caesar’s thirst for the Roman soldiers,settlers Roman and and products,customs officials, food themselves established soon in the land ofthe Treveri. Vinum and the Treveri and Mediomatrici, bravely the fought invading against but after the hadlost, legions, and Rome battlewith been the against arrival of were they graves. While their alive, owners impressed attheir feasts with guests such luxurious wine vessels. 450 years laterSome their successors, A made ofbronze were among popular the Celts here. take Known three could they situlas, between and as 13litres and found their way over the lps from Lombardy and the land ofthe E umerous finds dating from the the area to Hunsrück, back 500BC between E ven today numerous finds and monuments bring the wine culture ofthe Mosel during the Roman Wine to periodback life. was mpire –from the Near E truscans into the households ofwealthy Celts, in their before finally being placed elaborately furnished ast toast North A frica, fromfrica, Spain to Britain, came to the area with the the merchants legions, and

G mpire, from the to Black the Sea A arum”, known also “Liquamen”, as asauce made from fermented allic inhabitants.allic ifel, an unparalleled cultural boom. ifel, and economic ifel and mouth ofthe Mosel confirm that wine buckets tlantic. Oysters were much in Ansgar Schmitz

On pages 34 to 58 the Roman villas and burials are marked with this pictogram , temples and sanctuaries with this pictogram The entire Mosel region is full of friendly travellers who enjoy the fruity, mineral wines of the area between the vines and the Roman ruins. But what will the wine the Romans made nearly 2000 years ago have tasted like – nobody asks this important question. Really nobody? No! Driven by an apparently never-ending zest for action and thirst for knowledge, a village on the Middle Mosel populated by stubborn amateur historians has refused to give up the quest for the answer to this question…

Wine in an ancient “kilner jar”

The scene is Wintrich near Bernkastel, the Roman Vindriacum. The Vigilia Romana Vindriacum e.V., a group of amateur historians who bring back to life the military and civilian world of Roman Late Antiquity, has undertaken an interesting experiment: the production and storage of wine in amphoras based on ancient originals (s. ill. right). In the ancient world amphoras were used to transport a whole range of products across the sea, along rivers and over land, but also to store supplies. There are no reports of how well the “kilner jars” of the ancient world did the job. Believe it or not, the Vigilia worked tirelessly on the project for nearly four years: with the expert support of archaeologists, they worked out their own project plan especially for the experiment. Finally the Vigilia sets out on the Roman wine ship Stella Noviomagi in order to present their triumph to the unsuspecting flocks of tourists. Just like in Late Antiquity, the group from Wintrich row down the Mosel with their amphoras, bring the pottery vessels on land at Bernkastel and bring pleasure to the guests from all over the world with a refreshing drink. That is the proof: not only did the Romans make good wine on the Mosel, they were also able to transport the drink to their customers over long distances. Perhaps even as far as Rome? Maybe the brave Vigilia Vindriacum has a new task…

Ansgar Schmitz

Cheers to Rufus, the wine merchant

It is the late 4th century AD. In a vineyard in And you travel all that way with an ox-cart? Thiergarten in Trier, in the middle of the Yes, normally these castrated, powerful draft temple complex in Altbachtal, we meet the wine animals transport my goods to their destination. merchant Rufus. While Rufus’s employees are But along the Mosel I sometimes also use a boat, busily securing the heavy oak cask containing but that can be tricky, depending on the current. the wine produced at the Thiergarten vinyard Is it safe on the roads? ➔ TIP on the four-wheeled ox-drawn cart ready for In what sort of state are they? transport, Rufus answers the inquisitive cellar Rufus comes to you too! master’s questions - over a glass of wine, of It seems that you never get out of the cellar! “Rufus ante Portas” is an amusing and cheeky course. Otherwise you’d know that the road network theatrical monologue for social occasions both inside and outside of Roman attractions. If Well, now you’ve bought my best wine! is in an excellent state. It was us Roman soldiers you’re looking for an entertaining alternative to Where are you actually going to take it, where – and I was one until a few years ago – who the usual guided tour, then you must book it. worked so very hard to build all the roads. The hard-drinking Roman wine merchant Rufus are your other customers? is played by a professional actor. He used to be They are the backbone of the Roman Empire With this delicious – and god knows it really is a soldier in an infamous elite unit of the Roman and are the foundation on which the army and army in the struggle against the barbarians, but – white juice of the vine, we’re heading off to merchants can build their work. Have you later settled down to become a wealthy wine the vicus at Belginum, on the Aussonius Road, merchant, turning his passion into his profession: never heard that, little cellar master? “Now I can respectably drink my way up and in the highlands of the Hunsrück. But I also down the Mosella.” But how did this Roman land supply my customers along the wonderful in the present day? What magic can help him to Mosel, as well as in the Saar valley, in the get back again? Vordereifel, in Tholey, and of course in Trier. Booking conditions, performance dates and trailer can be found at www.strassen-der-roemer.eu. ➔ book tip

And the soldiers were always able to stop robbers? By Annette Köwerich (text) / Once or twice I’ve got into Hans-Georg trouble when I was travelling over Eiben (photos) land without soldiers as company enjoying like the romans and was ambushed by a band of A culinary journey along the Wine in an ancient “kilner jar” robbers. They were after the “straßen der römer” coins that I’d previously received The cookery and culture guide “Genießen as payment. as well as the other wie die Römer” is intended as an invitation to a cultural and culinary journey of discovery things that I normally carry in along the “Straßen der Römer”. More than 50 the leather pouch hanging from regional producers and restaurants, who today my belt. still cultivate the old Latin heritage, present themselves and their own personal favourite And that would be? Roman recipes and ingredients. And for those who aft er a visit to one of the hospitable houses The leather belt itself has a develop a taste for more, there is an extensive buckle and a military decoration, section of recipes that gives the reader the chance to cook and taste their way back into and is extremely valuable. and Antiquity. then I had a number of my most 154 pages / over 300 photos valuable brooches in the pouch. ISBN 978-2-87954-165-5, Price: 19,80 € I like to show them to interested customers and sell them if the price is right. But thanks to the ruffians, I had to part with the jewellery CHeeRS TO RUFUS, THe WINe MeRCHaNT involuntarily. As for parting: are you on the road all year, Of course I have – but are you safe when you and leave your wife at home? transport your goods over land? Of course my wife stays at home. Or can you Naturally you can’t be a tomfool in this imagine her walking along behind the oxcart? profession. However, it’s not equally dangerous But I’m only ever on the road for a few weeks, everywhere. But I love my Mosella, and am and in the winter, when the roads are full of ice happiest when travelling along the river. But and snow, I stay at home. That’s why the coins the roads over the highlands of the Hunsrück have to jingle first. are safer. The never-ending horizon over the And are they jingling well? ridge provides me with a better views of the land than the many curves of the path along Look at me: do I look like a poor man? the Mosella. What’s more, I’m not on my own No, god knows I can’t complain. My revenues but mostly join a troop of soldiers in order to are excellent, and my profession is highly make the journey safer. and other merchants respected. For nothing in the world would I do the same. anyway, the army is one of my want to give it up and no longer be on the road, most important customers, for every soldier enjoying the contact with so many people and gets a ration of a litre of wine a day, and that’s my beloved wine. Cheers! good enough reason for liking having the comrades as company. Fictional interview with Dr. Rosemarie Cordie, talking to Susanne Rendenbach.

P age 23 TIME TRAVEL FOR VISITING GROUPS extraordinary places for unforgettable experiences

enjoying culture should always be understood of the best wine-producing regions in the as a holistic concept of pleasure. We live in an world and can be explored at a high level of age when we are permanently bombarded by excellence with specially qualified guides, medial stimuli, so why hurry from attraction known as wine and culture ambassadors. to attraction? “Time travel” on the Strassen der Or how about pampering your palate à la

Römer means: travelling with lots of time apicius? You can find over 70 informative for companionship and discovering things and entertaining possibilities for groups at together. Here, in an impressive cultural www.strassen-der-roemer.eu: academically landscape, you can experience history with all sound guided tours, guided cycle and walking your senses – whether actively on a guided cycle tours, archaeological excavation seminars, or walking tour, or more comfortably and well living history and historical theatre. Wine cared for on a coach. Town or country? On the and culinary delights have their place as well. Strassen der Röemer you don’t have to make and what is new: for cross-border guided tours, up your mind, both are so close together. But, certified “guides for the greater region” are of course, when enjoying culture you shouldn’t now available (www.tourismus-grossregion.eu). neglect the culture of enjoyment! The regional cuisine in the border triangle germany – Luxembourg – France is reason enough to explore the area, and the food is complemented excellently by the fine wines. The Mosel is one

➔ tip It’s not just groups who can book group offers! For example, treat yourself to your own personal guide, or wine and culture ambassador. It doesn’t comeP age more 24 individual. www.strassen-der-roemer.eu extraordinary places Page 24: Meurin Roman mine (Kretz); Porta Nigra (Trier), guided tour of the Kaiserthermen baths for unforgettable experiences (Trier), Stella Noviomagi (Neumagen- Dhron); page 25: Ausonius long distance path near Dill, milestone near Nettersheim

aNCIeNT MOTORWaYS

All roAds leAd to rome. this fAmous Quote, even if it only dAtes bACk to the middle Ages, of Course Also works the other wAy round.

P age 25 25 Belginum Archaeological Park

Roman road near Dalheim Remerschen funerary monument

rom Rome, the head of the world (caput mundi), each and every province between the atlantic and asia could be reached easily thanks toF the 300,000 kilometre long arterial system of well-built roads. They kept the organism of the empire alive, almost all military and civilian traffic pulsed along them. But above all, they were also a symbol for Rome’s claim to power over the conquered territories, which were only regarded as fully pacified when the engineers could set up their ingenious surveying instruments such as groma and chorobates. and the manner of their construction, carving out metalled routes that paid no attention to the local topography but ran straight over rivers, valleys and mountains into unexploited regions, didn’t fail to achieve their goal and command respect. If today we are impressed by the Romans’ ability to overcome natural obstacles and open up huge territories, what must the effect on their contemporaries have been? Technical know-how was deliberately employed internally in order to increase their sense of self-esteem, externally to pronounce Rome’s might. With the roads Roman culture came to the most distant provinces. as conveyer belts for ideological and material goods, the roads themselves also exerted their own attraction. Near to them settlements, sanctuaries and cemeteries were established; milestones which marked distances, resting places and staging posts for changing horses

Schwarzenacker Roman Museum

Wareswald excavation project Igel column

P age 26 Vicus Ricciacus, Dalheim

Römerkanal trail, Nettersheim

Grütenhäuschen, Igel

made journeys easier. even if in our latitudes the roads have been built over and there is little to remind us of the original routes – in some places such as Blankenheim in the northern eifel the original paved surface can be seen, as well as the elaborate substructure -, it is the structures built near the roads that bear witness to their attraction. For example, a temple to Mercury in Tawern (partly reconstructed) close to the old main road from Trier to the Mediterranean. Or the Igel column, a funerary monument that is now a UNeSCO World Heritage Site and which was built by wealthy cloth merchants along the main road leading out of Trier to the west. Whether as a settlement and staging post, or else as a last resting place, the old vicus at Belginum at the crossroads of two major routes through the Hunsrück is one of the best documented sites. Here an archaeological park has been built especially to display the objects that were placed in the graves in the cemetery that the native Celtic inhabitants had already frequented and which remained in use for many centuries. “Belginum” is also mentioned on the “Tabula Peutingeriana”, a road map dating to the 4th century aD which records almost the entire network of roads in the empire. according to the map, maybe not all but no less than twelve roads lead like the rays of the sun to Rome. Thomas Klein

Tawern temple Milites near Belginum

Trier Roman bridge

on pages 34-59 sites that are related to transport infrastructure are marked with this pictogram

P age 27 ➔ Walking on thematic trails Cycling on Roman routes

Römerkanal trail ➔ Marking (Long-distance footpath) The Roman metropolis Colonia ➔ Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (Cologne) Facts Distance: 116 km on the Rhine didn’t just consume huge quantities of water in order to supply ➔ Recommended stages it’s public baths. How the Romans 1. Nettersheim – Kall-Dottel (15 km), managed to bring clear spring water Start: Naturzentrum Eifel Nettersheim over a distance of some 100 km, and (near railway station), Finish: Kall-Dottel even over a watershed, into the town church / Public transport: Railway can be seen along the Römerkanal trail station in Kall-Scheven from Nettersheim. The Roman water 2. Kall-Dottel – Mechernich (16 km), Start: conduit is still remarkably well preserved Kall-Dottel church, Finish: Mechernich- and with its spring house, infiltration Feyer Mühle / Public transport: Railway gallery, collection basin, aqueducts station in Mechernich centre and workshop, as well as, of course, 3. Mechernich – Kreuzweingarten (13 km), numerous glimpses of its interior, Start: Mechernich-Feyer Mühle, Finish: provides valuable insights into the Railway station Kreuzweingarten technology involved. 4. Kreuzweingarten – Rheinbach (16 km), If you want to walk the entire length, Start: Railway station Kreuzweingarten, then it is recommended that you do Finish: Railway station Rheinbach it in 7 stages. Inexperienced walkers 5. Rheinbach – Bornheim-Brenig (22 km), are recommended to concentrate on Start: Railway station Rheinbach, Finish: the first three stages which offer Brenig / Public transport: Suburban train particularly impressive features and stop Bornheim beautiful countryside. All stages can 6. Bornheim-Brenig – Brühl (15 km), Start: also be done as individual day trips. Brenig / Public transport: Suburban train A package deal with luggage transfer stop Bornheim, Finish: Brühl water tower / from Nettersheim to Rheinbach can be Public transport: Suburban train stop Brühl booked with Nordeifel Tourismus GmbH. 7. Brühl – Köln-Sülz (19 km), Start: Brühl www.roemerkanl-wanderweg.de water tower, Finish: Sülzgürtel Straße in Köln-Sülz / Public transport: Suburban train stop in Luxemburger Straße

P age 28 Time and space to take things at your own pace: much more relaxing than hurrying from attraction to attraction. How about a pleasurable ramble along one of the many thematic trails that the Strassen der Römer has to offer? The ancient cultural landscape offers not just a variety of routes through unspoilt countryside with splendid views, but also a great deal of history. Innumerable generations have left their mark here. Most recently it was hard-working fans of history who have put all their efforts into caring for the remains of the past, constructed thematic trails, erected information boards and benches at pretty resting places – to the benefit of their guests and in order to preserve the historical heritage. It’s often the everyday history that can be traced here, often in gentle tones that only those who take their time can register. And then beside the route there are many splendid attractions, impressive reconstructions and excavated sites waiting to be discovered.

Walking on thematic trails Cycling on Roman routes

Ausonius trail ➔ Marking Au (Long-distance footpath) Those who want to follow the poet ➔ Facts Ausonius on his journey from the Rhine 119 or 126 km to the Mosel take the Ausonius road. (variant via Neumagen-Drohn) Some 120 km long, it crosses the picturesque Hunsrück from Bingen to Trier. Through varied countryside it ➔ Recommended stages travels through woods and across 1. From Bingen to Rheinböllen meadows with fine views over the (c. 22 km), Start: Burg Klopp in Bingen, gentle hills of the highlands, through Finish: Rheinböllen; also suitable pretty towns and villages with their as a separate day trip rich heritage of half-timbered houses, 2. From Rheinböllen to Kirchberg and, of course, past Roman sites. Of (c. 25 km ), Start: Rheinböllen market particular note is the archaeological place, Finish: Kirchberg old town centre; park at Belginum, which was built at also suitable as a separate day trip an old staging post on the Roman road 3. From Kirchberg to Morbach-Gonzerath and displays numerous interesting (c. 28 km), Start: Kirchberg market place, finds. Finish: Morbach-Gonzerath It is recommended that the tour is 4. From Morbach-Gonzerath to done in at least 6 stages. The first two Gräfendhron (c. 13 km), Start: B 269 can – thanks to public transport – be Morbach-Gonzerath, Finish: Gräfendhron done as separate day trips. Hunsrück- 5. From Gräfendhron to Fell (c. 20 km), Touristik GmbH offers an all-inclusive Start: Gräfendhron stone bridge, Finish: walking trip package that can be Fell town centre modified according to individual wishes. 6. From Fell to Trier (c. 14 km), Start: Fell town centre, Finish: Trier, Porta Nigra

P age 29 No less diverse than the choice of sites to visit is the range of thematic trails of differing distances and difficulty – ranging from a pleasant stroll to a diversified walk taking several days, from premium footpaths mostly on nearly natural paths to cultural trails on metalled surfaces offering more sure footing. And those for whom walking is too slow, but still want sporting activity, can exchange their walking boots for a bicycle. You don’t necessarily have to bring your own bike with you, for you can rent one there, if you want even with an auxiliary electric motor. ➔

Römersteig from StraSSe der Römer, Zell Calmont walk and trittenheim to minheim (Mosel) climb between bremm and ediger-eller Menhirs, slate caves, rocky outcrops, Zell is famous for the vineyards on Roman wine-making … The Römersteig the slopes of the Zeller Schwarze Katz. A secured trail provides an adventurous (Roman climb) between Trittenheim and However, the town on the Mosel also climb through Europe’s steepest vine- Minheim offers a colourful mix of nature offers a number of Roman attractions yards. As a reward for the effort, at the and the ancient world. that have been incorporated into the weekend a glass of Calmont Riesling new thematic path “Strasse der Römer”. awaits at the dizzy heights by the cross The route passes not only the ash cist on the summit. In addition there is a on the bank of the Mosel, but also the path along the ridge to the impressive remains of a hilltop temple with a fine remains of a Roman hilltop temple. The view of the Mosel and the mysterious track returns to the Mosel through the Alteburg, a late Roman fortification in Ellerbach valley. the Altlayer Bach valley.

➔ Distance c. 20 km., 5 – 6 hours

➔ character Mainly comfortable paths through vineyards, but the walk down to the slate caves and the Weislei involves ➔ Distance an Alpine climbs that require sureness ➔ Distance 6 km., c. 3 hours of foot and fitness. 18 km., c. 5 – 6 hours ➔ character ➔ Starting point ➔ Starting point Everywhere narrow tracks that require a In Trittenheim, Neumagen-Dhron and Schwarze Katz fountain / Town Hall head for heights and sureness of foot Piesport by the bridges over the Mosel (Rathaus), Balduinstrasse 44 in Zell ➔ Starting points (Mosel) Eller (railway station) and Bremm

P age 30 ➔

Circular path From milestone The 5 lake tour – around “Discover archaeology” to milestone (mosel the roman vicus wareswald in Luxembourg) (premium footpath) The “Archäologie entdecken” tour takes you to the important Roman and At the border post in Wasserbillig, The tour gets its name from the idyllic Frankish sites: to the “Görresburg” where the old Roman bridge over the lakes that the route passes. From along temple of the Matronae; to the spring Sauer stood until the early 20th century, the old Roman road there are repeated house that is the staring point of the you will find the first of three reconstruc- views of the Schaumberg. Near Tholey water conduit which ran nearly 100 km. tions of Roman mile or league-stones there is the possibility of making a detour to Cologne (to the 2nd cent. AD); a section (1 Gallic league = 2.220 m.) that serve from the footpath to the excavations at of the Roman main road from Cologne to as a reminder of the route of the Roman the Roman site of “Wareswald” which are Trier; and the archaeological exhibition road from Cologne to Trier and Metz. only 800 metres from the path. During in the Eifel Nature Centre. From here you can walk along the bank the 1st century AD a settlement was of the Mosel to the chapel in Mertert established here at the crossroads of where the second milestone is. The two Roman main routes. Much of it has official Mosel footpath “hanner Stell” been excavated in recent years. then runs along the Stellbösch to a third milestone, before returning past the Felsmühle and the nature protection area Manternacher Fels, through the vineyards to Wasserbillig. The detour to the “Weiler” woods to visit the cemetery is well worthwhile.

➔ Distance 12 km., walking time c. 4 hours ➔ tip ➔ Distance Public transport to Nettersheim: take 12.6 km., walking time c. 3-4 hours the train to Nettersheim station; visit the permanent archaeological exhibition ➔ Starting point at the Nature Centre in Nettersheim Bliesen (cemetery) (5 minutes walk from the station); walk ➔ tip the “Archäologie entdecken” footpath Guided tours (no charge) of the (12 km.); refreshments at the bakery ➔ Distance excavations at Wareswald every first and café “Die Ähre”, Bahnhofstrasse 29; Short loop c. 8 km. long loop with Sunday in the month at 11 a.m. return from Nettersheim station cemeteries c. 13 km; walking time for short from May to October. tour c. 3 hours, long tour c. 4 hours

➔ Starting point At the border post in Wasserbillig/ Wasserbilligerbruck

P age 31 ➔

➔ book tip

straße(n) der römer viA CAligA (obermosel) romAn trAil between butZweiler And kordel The Romans road to Trier ran between It’s all about the Romans! (premium footpAth) But how to get there? The question is Palzem and Wincheringen. The thematic answered by the guidebook “Straße(n) footpath Cia Caliga follows the old route It combines the Putzlöcher Roman der Römer”. On 43 routes for 18 walks, across the heights of the Saargau. “Caliga” copper mines and the Roman Langmauer 16 cycle tours and 9 excursions in the were the strapped leather sandals of near Butzweiler with other attractions, car, the author Heinz-Egon Rösch takes the Roman legionaries. At fi rst sight the for example the imposing Genoveva us to the Roman highlights on the Mo- shoes don’t seem very sturdy, but they caves, the Klausner cave and Ramstein sel and Rhine, in the Eifel, Hunsrück, were in fact extremely robust and ideal castle. There are a number of suspended Luxembourg and Saarland. His aim is for long marches. But it’s another matter bridges over the Butzerbach which are to awake our interest in the relics of the altogether how far modern walkers would a particular attraction – not only – for Romans along their old roads, in their manage in the hobnailed soles. children. monuments, cult sites and settlements, and in visiting their reconstructions, at the same time learning much about the Romans and their culture. And all that in one of the most beautiful landscapes in Germany! ISBN 978-3-937782-50-8, 136 pages, over 100 photos, Price: 6,45 €

➔ distAnCe ➔ distAnCe Wincheringen loop: 19 km. c. 10 km., c. 3-4 hours Palzem loop: 21 km. Walking time c. 6-7 hours per loop ➔ stArting point Butzweiler (car park at the fountain ➔ ChArACter in “Klaus-Pauli-Platz”) and Kordel Everything the walker’s heart could wish (car park for walkers beneath Ramstein for, mainly on forest and farm tracks castle) The route is particularly suitable ➔ stArting points for children of 6 years and older. Wincheringen station / Palzem village centre. Public transport: both starting points are easily reached by train

P age 32 ➔ An extremely well-developed and well-connected network of cycle paths offers everyone’s leg muscles just the right tour. Apart from them, cycle discovery days invite you to entertaining excursions on roads that are closed to traffic for the occasion, with innumerable opportunities to stop off and enjoy yourself. It is not just a paradise for fans of the Romans. On the following pages we have put together a selection of tours and tips. You can find more at www.strassen-der-roemer.eu.

Velo romanum: on your bike Saarland cycle path Cycle along through the ancient world roman shipping routes The Saarland cycle path passes (Luxembourg mosel) through the glorious countryside The rivers Saar and Mosel were important The tour begins at the stone from along the borders of Saarland. Explore shipping routes for the Romans, and their the Roman winepress next to the village towns like Saarbrücken and St. Wendel, valleys were densely settled. Even then hall (Gemeindehaus) in Bech-Kleinmacher. as well as imposing landscapes, on a vines grew on the slopes. So you can From there the route takes you along historical tour. Numerous attractions reach numerous Roman attractions along the Mosel cycle track to Schwebsingen on the way invite you to dally, discover the Saar and Mosel Cycle Path, while at and the ancient sarcophagus, before and enjoy. Celtic and Roman attractions the same time enjoying an important part continuing to the wine merchant’s along the way: Museum für Vor- und of our Roman heritage: wine. funerary monument in “Haff Remich” Frühgeschichte (Pre- and Protohistory), near Remerchen. It then runs on up the Schwarzenacker Roman museum, Kräizbierg to Elvange and Ellange, and Gollenstein menhir, European Culture down to the French border, where there Park Bliesbruck-Reinheim, Otzenhausen was once a Roman fort. The “Kiem”, the Celtic hillfort, Nennig Roman villa; historical route of the Roman road from also: Saarbrücken town centre, Metz to Trier, leads to “Vicus Ricciacus” Bostalsee lake, meander of the river and the Roman theatre in Dalheim. Saar and Cloef, UNESCO World Heritage Finally a pretty cycle path runs along Site Völklinger Hütte, and much more. the track of the old “Jangelis Bunn”, one of the main railway lines in th Luxembourg in the early 20 century, ➔ Distance over the “Scheierbierg” to the end of the A total of 429 km route, the Roman burial chamber in Bech-Kleinmacher. ➔ character Suitable for families, with completely flat routes that generally run close to the rivers as they meander through a variety of landscapes. Longer tours can be easily combined with a boat trip, or else shortened by using the train or the ➔ Distance cycle bus (Radelbus). A total of 356 km ➔ tip ➔ character The Ruwer Valley cycle path runs from Medium to active Ruwer to the Roman aqueduct in ➔ tip Waldraach, and on to Hermeskeil and ➔ Distance Just get on and set off. Even difficult the Hochwaldmuseum. 35 km stretches aren’t a problem any more: the silent eVelo Saarland adds 150% ➔ character to your muscle power! In Saarland Two thirds of the route are flat, one third there is an extensive regional network hilly with a climb out of the Mosel valley of rental stations. Information at (200 metres altitude difference) www.tourismus-saarland.de P age 33 009 010 007 011 012 004 006 008 005 013 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

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P age 34 Römerkanal-footpath

Mosel Cycle Path

★★★ Well worth visiting

★★ Worth visiting

★ Interesting attraction near the route

(★) Investment

Sanctuary, temple

Museum, art

Villa, farmstead

Technical attraction

Road, fortifi ed settlement

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046 029 030 028 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (★ ★)

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Mosel Cycle Path

Via Ausonia

Saar Cycle Path

★★★ Well worth visiting

★★ Worth visiting

★ Interesting attraction near the route

(★) Investment

Sanctuary, temple

Museum, art

Villa, farmstead

Technical attraction Road, fortifi ed 062 064 065 097 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ settlement Restaurant with

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Mosel Cycle Path

Via Ausonia

Saar Cycle Path

Saarland Cycle Path

★★★ Well worth visiting

★★ Worth visiting

★ Interesting attraction near the route 090 081 089 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (★) Investment

Sanctuary, temple

Museum, art

Villa, farmstead

Technical attraction

Road, fortifi ed settlement

Restaurant with Roman dishes

P age 39 ➔ MONUMENTS IN THE EIFEL

001 HHH Celtic population for a long time still stuck Site: on the B 51 at the northern entranceto to their native customs and ethnic Iversheim, tel. +49 (0)2253-8027 Meurin Roman mine, Kretz peculiarities. A limestone inscription from geo-coordinates: 50.58815° N / 6.77391° E The Roman mine is the largest underground the tumulus reads: “For Contuinda, the Roman tuff quarry north of the Alps. The daughter of Esucco, and for Silvanus HHH layers of tuff here, which are several metres Ategnisa her son, their heirs erected this 006 thick and have been quarried for more than tomb in accordance with their testament.” Aqueduct on the Römerkanal, 2,000 years, are the result of the violent In Pellenz Archaeological Museum finds Mechernich-Vussem eruption of the Laacher See volcano. An from burials and settlements are on display, When they built the gigantic water imposing symbiosis of modern architecture including a Roman cult loaf and the remains and the 2,000 year old mine will enthral supply from Nettersheim to Cologne, the of Roman fruit tarts that were found in a engineers didn’t always find the terrain the visitor and take him back to the harsh grave of the 2nd century AD near Saffig. world of Roman stone quarrying. In 2004 particularly suitable. In order to achieve a the Meurin Roman mine was presented Laacherstraße (sports ground), steady incline they had to take the water with one of the most important European 56645 Nickenich; Pellenz-Museum: across an enormous bridge, 80 metres cultural prizes by Europa Nostra for its Zehntstraße 7, D-56645 Nickenich, long, on what is known as an aqueduct. unique concept and presentation. tel. +49 (0)2632-958952 Part of the structure has been informa- geo-coordinates: 50.41370° N/7.31456° O tively reconstructed and today is one of A station in the Vulkanpark. the highlights of the 110 kilometres of the On the B256, D-56630 Kretz, Römerkanal footpath. Those travelling by tel. +49 (0)2632-98750 004 HH car can visit a collecting basin in the neigh- geo-coordinates: 50.39669° N/7.35683° E Katzensteine, Mechernich-Katzvey bouring village of Eiserfey, and a spring basin between Eiserfey and Kallmuth. The Roman quarry got its name from the Site: south of Mechernich, signposted in 002 H nearby village Katzvey. Traces of ancient Vussem. quarrying are still visible on the 15 m high Burial mound, Ochtendung rock formation, for example traces of geo-coordinates: 50.56472° N/6.66843° O When it came to burying their dead, the spalling, holes for wedges and scoring. The Romans could be quite creative: funerary finds from the excavations conducted here H monuments, funerary temples, ash cists, are also interesting, for example a coloured 007 stone sarcophaguses, etc. In Ochtendung glass bowl, which was probably made in Roman Quarry, Kall you can see an impressively huge Italy. Animal bones, cherry stones and Traces of Roman quarrying and stone- (reconstructed) burial mound that was the hazelnuts provide important information on last resting place of several people, working methods can be discovered in a the diet of the Roman quarry workers: apart stepped rock wall in the woods. A private including a woman and two small children. from dear and wild cattle, domesticated They will have lived in a nearby villa. The entrepreneur, perhaps a villa owner from pigs were eaten, and mussels collected in the neighbourhood, may have extracted fertile and idyllic Maifeld plateau, just the Veybach which flows past. outside the gates of Koblenz, was a popular building material here for occasional place to live even 2,000 years ago. There is Site: An the L 61 from Satzvey private use or as a small business. At least a further burial mound just a few kilometres to Mechernich on the left hand side that is assumed to have been the case for away in Nickenich. Perhaps also farmers? (car park) the “Katzensteine” near Katzvey. What can After all, the troops on the Limes had to be geo-coordinates: 50.60356° N / 6.69001° E be seen of it today? For example so-called supplied. An excursion to nearby Burg Eltz “Schrotgräben”, vertical channels that can be recommended. It is not Roman, but served to split off blocks of stone, 005 HHH famous as a rare example of a castle that smoothed faces and comb-like mallet was not destroyed. A Roman hilltop refuge Lime kilns, traces arranged in arcs. has been identified near the ruins of the Bad Münstereifel-Iversheim Site: 1 km northwest of Kall on the L 204 to castle at Wernerseck, between Ochtendung Six massive kilns from the large Roman Gemünd, car park; and Plaidt. lime works have been excavated, roofed geo-coordinates: 50.55042° N / 6.54846° E Burial mound: Am Römerhügel, D-56299 over and documented in detail. The raw material came from the nearby quarries, Ochtendung (GPS: 50.34671° N/7.39711° 008 H O) Burg Eltz: Wierschem (K 38) and the lime produced here was shipped to the Lower Rhine, where it was an im- Temple complex, portant building material. The complex is Bad Münstereifel-Nöthen H 003 probably the best researched lime works Situated prettily in the woods, the group of in Europe and is one of the most important Roman burial mound & temples near Bad Münstereifel-Nöthen archaeological sites for our understanding funerary monument, Nickenich invite you to a contemplative stroll. As on of the economic history of the Roman the “Görresburg” near Nettersheim, among The little cemetery, consisting of a burial Empire north of the Alps. mound and a funerary monument, is a good the various divinities worshipped here example of how, long after the conquest of were three mother or fertility goddesses the Rhine zone by the Romans, the partly

P age 40 known as the Matronae. The complex where a Roman settlement, a late Roman originally consisted of temples, secular fortification, and sections of the Roman buildings and a basilica, of which only the 001 Roman mine Meurin road from Cologne to Trier have been foundations are visible today, but which excavated and can be visited. have been partially reconstructed. Copies Site: c. 1.5 km on foot from the Naturzen- of votive stones have been set up, and trum Eifel (Urftstr. 2-4, D-53947 Netters- today people still bring offerings to the heim, Parkplatz), from there signposted; Matronae portrayed on them. geo-coordinates: 50.48233 N / 6.61827 E Site: 6 km southwest of Bad Münstereifel; in Pesch turn off the L 206 southeast to HHH “Zum Heidentempel” and follow signs for 011 car park, from there 10 mins on foot; Römerkanal footpath, geo-coordinates: 50.53362° N / 6.70314° E 004 Katzensteine Mechernich Nettersheim-Cologne The Roman aqueduct from Nettersheim to 009 HHH Cologne was a remarkable piece of Roman engineering that had to cross the heights Spring basin “Grüner Putz” with of the Eifel and even a watershed. Worth infiltration gallery and water conduit, seeing: varied insights into the interior of Nettersheim the conduit, an impressive bridge for the This is where the Roman water pipeline aqueduct, and a smaller bridge, spring starts. The long infiltration gallery, which basins, collecting and stilling basins to collects the water from the slope and slow down the water when it was 005 Lime kilns Iversheim channels it into a spring basin that is now collected, workshop for the pipeline and open, is particularly impressive. From inspection shafts. The best way to explore there the water flows into one of the first this masterpiece is on foot or else on sections of the Roman aqueduct. mountain bike along the 110 km of the According to Roman beliefs the two heads Römerkanal footpath, which takes in all of Medusa depicted on the spring basin the important sites and gives an excellent were intended to divert evil from the impression of how the conduit crossed the spring. The Römerkanal footpath is terrain. Particularly worth-while: the first signposted from Nettersheim railway section from Nettersheim to Mechernich, station and the Naturzentrum Eifel both of which can be reached by train (Urftstr. 2-4, D-53947 Nettersheim). (c. 30 km). Site: in the Urft valley 2.5 km northwest Nordeifel Tourismus GmbH, Bahnhofstr. 13, 006 Aqueduct Mechernich-Vussem of Nettersheim, follow the signs from the 53925 Kall, tel. +49 (0)2441-99457-0 junction of Rosenthalstraße and Kloster- straße; car park near the „Grünen Pütz“ HH is accessible; 012 geo-coordinates: 50.51235° N / 6.60885° E Archaeological circular trail, Nettersheim The “Archäologie entdecken” footpath (length 12 km) leads to the most important 010 HHH Roman and Frankish attractions around “Görresburg” temple of the Matronae, Nettersheim: the “Görresburg” temple of Nettersheim the Matronae; the spring basin at “Grüner Situated on a hilly promontory with a Pütz” which marks the start of the nearly 009 Spring basin Nettersheim pretty view, the temple complex for the 100 km long aqueduct to Cologne; the Matronae Aufaniae is a station on the archaeological exhibition in the Naturzent- circular trail “Archäologie entdecken” rum Eifel; the Roman site at “Steinrütsch” (Discover archaeology), which starts in the with its milestone; and the Roman road Naturzentrum Eifel (12 km). In a spiritual from Cologne to Trier, which is visible in throwback the three mother goddesses are places as a sunken road and elsewhere as still revered by women today, as the a section of the carriageway with wheel frequent offerings of fresh flowers demons- ruts cut deep into the rocky ground. Start trate. In Christian times the Matronae were and finish are at the Naturzentrum Eifel, reinterpreted as three holy virgins, and so not far by foot from the railway station. still have a place in popular belief. Urftstr. 2-4, D-53947 Nettersheim, Sometimes you can experience archaeolo- tel. +49 (0)2486-1246 gy “live” in the area between the temple geo-coordinates: 50.49019° N / 6.62788° E and “Steinrütsch” in the Urft valley, ➔ MONUMENTS IN THE EIFEL

013 H 015 H Roman road Olbrück / Icorigium fort, Jünkerath Blankenheimerdorf A flourishing roadside settlement was The Roman Road from Cologne to Trier runs established early at the site where the through the „Olbrückwald“ woods near main road from Trier to Cologne crossed Blankenheim. Here a section of the road has the Kyll. It included shops, taverns and been uncovered and protected by a roof. inns. The buildings were arranged with Next to it, in the woods, is a resting place for their narrow sides to the street, and there hikers on the 19.5 kilometres of the Tiergarten- were probably colonnades over the Tunnel footpath. This begins at Blankenheim sidewalks. Icorigium was destroyed by the Wald railway station and runs through the 010 Temple of the Matronae Görresburg Germans, but secured by the Emperor Olbrückwald woods along the route of the Constantine with an impressive fortifica- old Roman road. It takes you to the medieval tion, comparable with those at Bitburg and water supply of the Counts of Blankenheim, Nuemagen. The modern street “Am and, among other sights, leads through the Römerwall” follows the line of the old Haubachtal nature conservation area, past Roman fort walls, but otherwise only a few burial mounds, fortifications and Roman remains of the wall are to be seen near the roads. Work is proceeding at full pace on the Eisenmuseum (Iron Museum), itself well Roman road from Cologne to Trier, which is worth a visit, and only c. 300 m by foot to be opened up as far as Jünkerath as the from the railway station. “Agrippa-Strasse” for walkers and cyclists to D-54589 Jünkerath, Eisenmuseum experience. As part of the project, the Roman geo-coordinates: 50.33943° N / 6.58813° E villa at Blankenheim, one of the largest axial villas in the Rhineland, will be accessible to 011 Römerkanal footpath tourists. The colonnade, which is nearly 60 016 H m long, is being reconstructed using modern materials, while abstract indications reveal 012 Circular footpath Nettersheim Roman bust, Stadtkyll/Niederkyll the extent of the adjoining buildings and In the village of Niederkyll near Stadtkyll markings and information boards bring them there is a pretty, late gothic chapel that to life. Remains of the original walls can also was built about AD 1600, in other words is be seen near the colonnade. The completion clearly post-Roman. The old wall paintings date for the reconstruction is the middle of 2013. and figures are well worth seeing, as is the cast iron Nothelferkreuz (cross of the Site: 2 km southwest of Blankenheim: helper in times of trouble) in the interior of from the B 51 turn off onto the K 70 the chapel. But why is it a station on the towards Blankenheim, on the left after 400 m; Straßen der Römer? Because of the cheeky geo-coordinates: 50.43116° N / 6.60982° E Roman head on the outside gable. It is evi- dence of Roman settlement in the area and 014 H was perhaps once part of a Roman funera- ry monument, but there is no way of kno- Roman road near Esch / wing today. On the other hand there are all Dahlem /Schmidtheim the more legends: the church is supposed The Roman road from Trier to Cologne to have been built on Roman walls, and it crosses the border between the Federal is claimed that soldiers sacrificed here to States of Rheinland-Pfalz and Nordrhein- Mars, the god of war. Westfalen near Esch, Dahlem and Schmidt- D-54589 Stadtkyll-Niederkyll, Kirche heim. Its perfectly straight course is still geo-coordinates: 50.35370° N / 6.54547° E clearly visible here in the woods as a 1 metre high embankment. The local councils will be opening up the Roman road as a cycle 017 HH and footpath. This will make it part of the Katzenberg Roman lookout, near Mayen ambitious and extensive project “Discovery 017 Roman lookout Katzenberg Zone Roman Road – Agrippa-Strasse”, The Katzenberg was crowned by the largest which aims to make the Roman road from late Roman hilltop fortification in the Eifel Trier to Cologne visible once more and 018 Grubenfeld Mayen and Hunsrück. It was constructed in inse- accessible to tourists. cure times about AD 300, when the Roman Limes had already been abandoned. In Site: 2 km east of Dahlem; from the B51 order to give a realistic impression of what turn south at the L 204 and follow the signs it was like, some 70 m of the fortification, geo-coordinates: 50.37912° N/6.58263° E with battlements you can walk along, have been reconstructed. At the summit of the D-54570 Pelm, Kasselburg car park, from 022 H hill a walk-in protective structure covers there follow the signs „Geo-Route“ Roman burial mound, Strotzbüsch the site of the excavation of the origi- (red-brown „G“ in a a circle on white nal Roman lookout. Once a year the site background); distance c. 1.2 km; If you ever wanted to see inside a burial comes back to life when a Roman cohort geo-coordinates: 50.23067° N/6.67452° O mound, then near Strotzbüsch you finally pitches camp here and conducts military (Kasselburg car park) get the chance. The tumulus was once up exercises. to six metres high, but most of it has been removed and today you can see into a bu- D-56727 Mayen, Katzenberg 020 H rial chamber made of sandstone blocks. It geo-coordinates: 50.32045° N / 7.24939° E was entered for burial through a passa- Villa Sarabodis, Gerolstein geway that was filled up with earth, but Near the Erlöserkirceh in Gerolstein (itself could be cleared out when needed. It was 018 HH worth a visit), close to the railway line and narrow, and certainly not a pleasant way Grubenfeld, near Mayen within walking distance of the railway in, but that hadn’t stopped grave robbers station, the remains of a Roman villa were The Mayener Grubenfeld is one of the old- from plundering it. found. Like so many others the villa was est and most important exploited sources destroyed by Germans. The numerous D-54552 Strotzbüsch, Hontheimer Straße of basalt lava. The porous stone is ideally finds from the site can be seen in the geo-coordinates: 50.09470° N / 6.96586° E suited for cereal grinders and millstones. museum. Particularly unusual are the A circular path takes you through the land- graves of Frankish warriors that were also scape of mines, down into the solidified 023 HHH found here: even by moderns standards lava stream of the Belleberg volcano with they were tall, and all of their skulls were Otrang Roman villa, Fließem its bizarre column-like formations. Signs of split and they had severe injuries. The Roman quarrying activity can be seen right The fine remains of a large villa complex, impressive Erlöserkirche (Church of the next to the 20th century electric crane. The which include ornate mosaic floors, were Holy Saviour), the interior of which is volcano experience centre “Terra Vulca- already excavated during the period of remarkable for a decorative programme niae” is new, and here visitors can work Prussian rule. Even the protective structu- comprising some 24 million mosaic the stone themselves and so experience res which were built over parts of the site stones, is the work of the Berlin architect, the feeling of how the volcanic materi- are themselves listed buildings. Among Professor Schwechten, who also built the al has been extracted over the last 7,000 the curiosities is a wooden Prussian fron- Kaiser-Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche in Berlin. years. The highlight is the “big cinema”, tier bar, which was reused in the roof of a mixture of realistic shots and computer Important: both the villa and the one of the structures. The picturesque view animation. The visit to Terra Vulcaniae and Erlöserkirche can only be viewed as part of across the wide, hilly landscape is best en- the Grubenfeld takes about 2 hours. a guided tour! Dates: April to October, joyed from the terrace of the small restau- Wednesday and Saturday 10 a.m. and 3 rant. What will the view have been like for D-56727 Mayen, An den Mühlsteinen p.m. Info: 06591-94991-0 the wealthy owners of the villa? geo-coordinates: 50.33278° N /7.23768° E Sarresdorfer Str. 15-17; D-54568 Gerolstein; Villa Otrang 1, D-54636 Fließem, geo-coordinates: 50.22356° N / 6.65520° E tel. +49 (0)6569-807 019 H geo-coordinates: 50.01382° N / 6.54622° E Roman temple 021 H “Juddekirchhof”, Pelm 024 HH The “Juddekirchhof”, on the Hustley, a hill Roman fortification, Schutz Bitburg Roman fort near Pelm, was probably a Roman pilgrim Protection (German: Schutz!) for Rom(e)? centre. According to a votive plaque the The old fortification on the Burberg near In the final phases of the Roman Empire goddess Caiva was worshipped here. She Schutz was probably used as a refuge by important main roads had to be fortified, was a patron deity of the Celtic farming the population of the surrounding settle- and so a fortification was constructed at the communities who live in the Gerolstein ments in the late Roman period. Whether market town of Beda that is still visible in and Pelm region, and perhaps even further the nearby Eifel village of Rom was already the fabric of the town today. A circular afield. One benefactor paid the proud settled then is not known. The mighty hill archaeological path visits all of the remains sum of 100,000 sestertii for the construc- offered a good view of the surrounding of the once mighty walls on the important tion of a temple here. There was a temple, plain, and an enemy could only attack from route from Trier to Cologne; some of the perhaps a priest’s house, and certainly a the north, where a double rampart protec- sections still stand to a significant height. semi-circular cult theatre. One curiosity is ted the approach. Chambers several sto- A model of the site can be seen in the foyer the fact that the lime mortar in the walls is ries high cut into the volcanic rock and the of the town hall (Stadthalle). If you wish you harder than many of the stones used. The circuit of the fortifications provided pro- can book a guided tour with one of the lime was not slaked with water, but with tection for those seeking refuge, and the soldiers of the Roman re-enactment group milk, and as a result not calcium carbonate water required for survival could be drawn “Milites Bedenses”. but lactate of lime was produced, which is from cisterns. In this way they had a good virtually indestructible. chance of escaping their enemies. D-54570 Schutz, Burberg geo-coordinates: 50.12982° N / 6.75878° E

P age 43 ➔ MONUMENTS IN THE EIFEL

Otherwise Bitburg is dominated by the 027 H(H) on the way to Echternach, where another world famous Bitburg brewery, which now Roman villa can be found near the lake. Langmauer, Herforst and Zemmer offers visitors an entertaining “World of D-54669 Bollendorf, In der Kroppicht Experience”. The Roman potteries at Speicher extended as far as the village of Herforst. The entire geo-coordinates: 49.85104° N/ 6.36837° E Rathaus, D-54634 Bitburg; production centre was inside the circuit of geo-coordinates: 49.97467° N / 6.52437° E the so-called Langmauer, and thus must 030 H have once been located within an impe- rial estate. A section of the Langmauer Votive monument, Ernzen 025 HH has been reconstructed at the entrance At Ernzen a pious and clearly rich patron Kreismuseum, Bitburg to Herforst and provided with an informa- by the name of Germanus dedicated an What was life like then, 100, 200 or even tion board. Another section can be seen expensive and ornate votive monument 2,000 years ago? How did people live and at the edge of the neighbouring village of to the god Intarabus. It consisted of an al- work in the Eifel, and what was on their Zemmer, but in this case at its original site. tar and a small temple. Unfortunately the minds? In its 20 rooms the Kreismuseum The Heimatmuseum in Zemmer is also well life-sized statue of the deity that probably tells the history of this landscape, reminds worth a visit. Please enquire about visits once stood in the temple has not survived, us of the people who once lived here, and (no charge). and only the votive inscription bears wit- exhibits treasures large and small from Langmauer: D-54662 Herforst, ness to the native Romano-Celtic god. The the past. Of course there are also exhibits geo-coordinates: 49.94665° N/6.69617° O votive monument is today in “Messeweg”. about the Romans who lived and worked D-54313 Zemmer: 49.89085° N/6.70137° O D-54668 Ernzen, Messeweg in the area surrounding the fortification at Heimatmuseum: D-54313 Zemmer, geo-coordinates: 49.84426° N / 6.42251° E Beda. Schleidweiler Str. 20; +49 (0)6501-602666 D-54634 Bitburg, Trierer Str. 15 (Deutsch-Luxemb. Tourist-Information) H tel. +49 (0)6561-683888 031 geo-coordinates: 49.96962° N / 6.52333° E Römerpfad path to the Pützlöcher 028 (HH) and the Langmauer, Butzweiler Holsthum Roman villa 026 H(H) The Römerpfad has been certified as a Originally the pretty village of Holsthum premium circular footpath to the Eifel- Pottery centre, Speicher and near Irrel was the site of a number of Ro- steig (“Top-Trail of Germany”), and leads “Römische Meile” in the Heimatmuseum man villas. The remains of a structure on you some 10 km to the “Pützlöchern”, a Not only today is Speicher a thriving the hillside have now been excavated and Roman copper mine and quarry, and to a pottery centre. It was already so in Roman can be visited. A circular path connects section of the Langmauer near Butzweiler. times. The famous flamed wares from the villa with the plateau of Ferschweiler, The quarry probably provided stone for the Speicher were widely exported, and the which positively exudes history: besides Porta Nigra in Trier! Starting points for the jugs decorated with human and animal the prehistoric Fraubillenkreuz men- circular path are the car park beneath the heads were particularly popular. But hir, there are a Celtic refuge and ancient ruins of Ramstein castle near Kordel, or simple everyday wares such as bowls and tombs, as well as a Christian pilgrim cen- the Ramsteiner Weg car park near Butzwei- mortars, pots, jugs, amphorae and even tre, known as the Schankweiler Klause. ler. The latter is closer to the Roman sites, tiles were produced here. The names of the D-54668 Holsthum which are the first two stations on the rou- potters were stamped into the products as geo-coordinates: 49.88983° N / 6.42970° E te, which is signposted with a Roman coin. a trademark. The path carries on to the Genoveva and The Heimatmuseum in Speicher houses Klausen caves. Not only children have fun a rich collection of objects relating to the 029 H walking through the adventurous Butzer- history of the region. A “Römische Meile” bach valley with its hanging bridges. The Bollendorf Roman villa documents the 2,000 year-old roots of copper mines can be visited by prior ap- the regional pottery industry and shows, It shaped a whole category of Roman pointment with the Heimatverein Butzwei- among other things, what ancient kilns farms: in a manner of speaking Bollendorf ler e.V.: tel. +49(0)6505-8755. looked like and how they functioned. villa is the archetype of all smaller rural D-54309 Butzweiler, Parkplatz Ramsteiner- Closed for renovation until the end of 2013. villas. Today it is protected by a modern structure that the students of Trier Uni- weg geo-coordinates: 49.81696° D-54662 Speicher, Jakobsstraße 56 versity of Applied Science designed, and N/6.62117° E tel. +49(0)6562-6436 (Mr. Müller, which is inspired by the Roman architec- VG Speicher) ture. Bollendorf itself is a lively tourist cen- geo-coordinates: 49.9344° N / 6.6342° E tre on the Sauer. The river forms the border with the neighbours on other side in Lux- embourg, with whom friendly relations are maintained. The much-frequented pilgrim route of St James passes close by the villa

P age 44 032 H impressum Publisher and concept: Mosellandtouristik GmbH Hermenweiher, Welschbillig in association with Eifel Tourismus GmbH, Hunsrück- Very little has survived of what was once Touristik GmbH, Tourismus Zentrale Saarland GmbH with a splendid Roman villa. The only indica- Projektkreis “Kelten und Römer” and Office Régional du tion of just how rich the owners of the villa Tourisme Région Moselle Luxembourgeoise were is the Hermenweiher, a pool surroun- ded by an ornately decorated balustrade. Geobasis information (ÜK250) The balustrade was decorated with herms, © Landesamt für Vermessung und Geo- that is busts set onto pillars that had their basisinformation Rheinland-Pfalz from origins in the cult of Hermes. Hence the Ausgabe 2010, Az.: 26 722-1.401 name. Here the impressive decoration por- Graphic design: lutzgestaltet, Mülheim trays gods, generals and members of the peoples united under the Roman Empire. Photos from the archives of the project partners, the stations Was this perhaps the splendid palace of of the Straßen der Römer, towns and tourist information offices, the administrator of an imperial estate? as well as the Roman re-enactment group Milites Bedenses; That, at least, is how archaeologists inter- Photographs by Yaph/TI Trier, A. Kohlhaas, A. Brachat (GDKE/ pret the lands that were once surrounded Burgen, Schlösser, Altertümer), G. Dixius, S. Wahlen, by what is known as the Langmauer. Today G. Hoffmann, Th. Zühmer (GDKE/Rheinisches Landesmuseum only a few casts of the herms can be seen Trier), M. Heinrich, U. Pfeuffer (GDKE/Landesmuseum Koblenz), opposite the castle in Welschbillig. N. Glatter, intention Werbeagentur, D. Ketz, E. Bock, Panther- media, C. Schick, A. Weinand, K.-P. Kappest, K. Thewalt, D-54298 Welschbillig B. Blees, C. Cordie, I. Ristow, InMotion, Ph. Bohn, Thuns, geo-coordinates: 49.85285° N / 6.56901° E Ph. Eschenauer, A. Wisniewski, W.Götzinger, Ch. Krawczyk, H. J. Sittig, K. Maas, bh-medien.de, W. Hoor, M. Reschke, Ch. Arnoldi, M. Rodziewicz (GDKE/Landesmuseum Koblenz), Archäologische Denkmalpflege Koblenz, M. Fries, H. Götzinger, G. Vella, C. Löw, R. Schmitz, F. Schaal, Stiftung Saarländischer Kulturbesitz, B. Kaufmann, D. Pfeiffer, K. Krell, F.-J. Schumacher Mosella: Copyright A. Kordel, Literatur: Ausonius, Decimus Magnus: Mosella. Hrsg. Und in metrischer Übersetzung vorgelegt von Bertold K. Weis. 3. Unverand. Auflage, Stuttgart: 023 Otrang Roman villa Fließem Theiss, 1997; Ausonius, Decimus Magnus: Mosella; lateinisch/deutsch. Hrsg., in Blankverse übers., erl. und mit einer Einleitung versehen von Paul Dräger, Trier: Paulinus 2001; D. Magnus Ausonius: Mosella mit Texten von Symma- chus und Venantius Fortunatus. Hrsg. übers. und kommentiert von Otto Schönberger, Stuttgart: Philipp Reclam jun., 2000; Joachim Gruber: Ausonius 2. Teil - 16 Jahre Ausonius- Forschung 1989-2004, im Internet veröffentlicht unter www.plekos.uni-muenchen.de/2005/fausonius2.html Mosella translation: H.G.E. White, Loeb Classical Library: Ausonius (London/Cambridge, 1961) with emendations by David Wigg-Wolf. Translation: Dr. David Wigg-Wolf Production: Möller Druck, Ahrensfelde 025 Kreismuseum Bitburg All rights reserved © Mosellandtouristik GmbH 024 Bitburg Roman fort Printed in Germany All information is based on thorough research. However no responsibility is accepted or guarantee given for details being up-to-date, correct or complete. In cooperation with the LEADERGruppen LAG Mosel, LAG Moselfranken, LAG Hunsrück, LAG Bitburg-Prüm, LAG Vulkaneifel, LAG Eifel, LAG Miselerland (Lux.), LAG Biosphäre Bliesgau, LAG St. Wendeler Land and the ILE-Regions Saar- Obermosel, Saargau, Hochwald and SaarPrimsbogen, as well as all the stations of the Straßen der Römer, the towns involved in the project, and tourist information offices. We would like to thank all who helped in the realisation of this brochure. ➔ ON THE LUXEMBOURG MOSEL

033 H venue for events at the vicus of Ricciacus, once situated on the Roman road from Funerary monument, Remerschen Trier to Metz and on to the Mediterranean, This is the site of the grave of a Roman is at present a building-site – with a winemaker. On his tombstone he had visitors’ centre. The remains of the rows of himself portrayed harvesting the grapes. stone seats need better protection from the The monument used to be at least six weather, so that it is planned to build an metres high and was decorated with imposing modern roof to replace the 034 Funerary monument further scenes from the everyday life of the existing provisional structure. Above the Bech-Kleinmacher landowner and winemaker. Unfortunately village of Dalheim, near the eagle the villa can no longer be seen, most of it monument, the remains of the vicus of having fallen victim to a gravel pit. The Ricciacus can be seen. It was once a funerary monument at Remerschen is bustling staging post with streets of shops, connected to the “Velo Romanum” cycle the baths, and the massive theatre. Only a path, a circular tour of various sites with small section of it is visible today. However wonderful views running through Schweb- the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has great singen, Remerschen and Bad Mongdorf; plans for this historical site. total distance 35 km, start at the weight from the Roman wine press in Bech-Kleinmacher. Theatre: Rue Neie Wee, L-5687 Dalheim; geo-coordinates: 49.54082° N / 6.25703° E In „Haff Remich“ near L-5506 Remerschen; geo-coordinates: 49.49320° N / 6.36569° E 035 Vicus Ricciacus Dalheim 036 H

034 HH 037 Funerary monument, “Tonn” burial mound, Flaxweiler Grevenmacher-Potaschberg Whether a lofty stone funerary monument Funerary monument and stone weight or a monumental burial mound, there can from a wine press, Bech-Kleinmacher be no denying that the Romans were keen Who would not like to be buried here? on imposing last resting places, generally Surrounded by vines with a lovely view of situated on busy roads and visible from far the Mosel valley and the site of the away. The burial mound “Tonn” near extensive villa in Nennig, the owners of the Flaxweiler, today overgrown with bushes villa at Bech-Kleinmacher could hardly have and trees, is still conspicuous. An early chosen a finer place for their cemetery. excavation beneath the massive earthen What will their house have looked like when mound in the 19th century revealed an they were alive? Certainly wine was octagonal sandstone burial chamber that produced here, for in the centre of the could be accessed by a long passage to village near the church and next to the place the urns of the dead in it. The cemetery the stone weight from a Roman present situation near the busy A1 wine press can be seen beneath a modern Trier-Luxemburg motorway would certainly protective roof. For cyclists the area can be have pleased those buried beneath it. explored on the “Velo Romanum”, which begins at the wine press weight. Total Site: on the CR122 between length 35 km; two thirds of the route are Flaxweiler and Dreiborn; flat, one third hilly with a 500 m climb out of geo-coordinates: 49.65595° N / 6.35370° E the Mosel valley (200 m difference in altitude). HH Via a closed road (without signpost) 039 Musée National 037 up the hill at the crossroads d’Histoire et d’Art, Luxembourg town Funerary monument, Route du Vin/ Rue des Caves, Grevenmacher-Potaschberg L-5404 Bech-Kleinmacher geo-coordinates: 49.53070° N / 6.35242° E The funerary monument in Grevenmacher- Potaschberg used to be an imposing 12 m high, but only parts of it have been recon- 035 HHH structed. Who will have built themselves such an outstanding stone memorial? They Ricciacus vicus and theatre, Dalheim were certainly not poor. The decoration The impressive Roman theatre at Dalheim, includes representations of mythical built into a slope on the edge of the scenes, as well as scenes from the every- village, is remarkable for its excellent state day life of an affluent wine-making family. of preservation. However, the Roman The monument stands amidst of an enclosed cemetery that invites you to linger.

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Potaschberg, L-6776 Grevenmacher- 040 H(H) 042 HHH Potaschberg Celtic oppidum and Roman theatre Temple and Vicus, Tawern geo-coordinates: 49.67433° N / 6.39190° E Kastel-Staadt Hospitality has a long tradition in Tawern. A spectacular view 200 m down to the The name is derived from the Roman word 038 H eddies of the Saar: the Celtic tribe of the for a hostelry, “taberna”. Traces of Treveri already lived here on the rocky tradesmen and craftsmen, of hostels and Roadside cemetery in „Weiler“ woods promontory and left behind traces of a inns have been discovered along the old between Wasserbillig and Lellig town-like settlement, as well as an Roman road from Trier to Metz and can be A thematic footpath leads from Wasserbil- imposing fortification that is still visible viewed. A 1:75 scale model shows what the lig to the „Weiler“ woods, where there are and can be walked round. Later the centre of Tabernae looked like in Roman a number of Roman graves beside the old Romans built a large sanctuary with a cult times. The nearby sanctuary on the Roman main road from Trier to the theatre which has been partially Metzenberg was a place to ensure the Ardennes. Walled family plots, pillar reconstructed. The site is famous for its favour of the gods before setting off on a monuments and tombstones still keep the romantic hermitage, which houses journey. The temple area and a large memory alive in all those who pass by on Schinkel’s funerary chapel for John, the secular building have been excavated and the path and seek peace and quiet by the blind King of Bohemia, and a tranquil partially reconstructed. A statue of Mercury old graves. The traffic is long since quiet Ehrenfriedhof (cemetery of honour). On the testifies to the piety of the Romans. St. on the old Roman road. Walk from 8.8 km of the Kasseler Felsenpfad (rock James’s pilgrim way passes by here, as milestone to milestone to the cemetery path - dream loop to the Saar-Hunsrück- does the Mercury Tour for mountain bikers and back: c. 13 km, start at the border Steig), in addition to the historical and the Elbling Route for wine lovers. crossing at Wasserbillig (milestone). treasures the countryside also offers Walkers can combine exploring the Site of the cemetery: on the CR141 unusual attractions, a stunning panorama sanctuary along an 8 km footpath with the to Mompach; with a wide, fascinating all-round view of joys of a freshly brewed beer at the geo.coordinates: 49.72563° N / 6.46009° E the Saar valley, the idyllic Pinschbach Mannebach private brewery. valley with its gently babbling brook, as Sanctuary: Bachstraße, D-54456 Tawern, well as the monumental Altfels, which can Vicus: In den Brühlmorgen, D-54456 039 HHH be climbed. Tawern geo-coordinates: Musée National d’Histoire et d’Art, Car park at the end of König-Johann-Stra- Sanctuary: 49.66444° N / 6.50973° E; Luxembourg town ße, D-54441 Kastel-Staadt; Vicus: 49.66868° N / 6.51602° E All Roman art and gold treasures from the geo-coordinates: 49.56696° N / 6.56728° E Luxembourg Mosel are kept and displayed HH in the Luxembourg National Museum for 043 041 H History and Art, for example the finely Imperial villa, Konz worked statue of Minerva from the vicus in Funerary monument An important ancient route passed through Dalheim. The truly impressive collection of “Widdertshäuschen”, Serrig the region around the confluence of the ancient finds from Luxembourg is The Widderts- or Wichtelhäuschen Saar and the Mosel. The site of Contio- displayed in the underground rooms of the (Gnomes’ House), hidden in a meadow nacum – today Konz – was chosen to modern museum, which fascinatingly close to the 33 km long Saar cycle path, is construct a splendid residence for the incorporates into the galleries behind full of mysteries. Mighty blocks of stone Roman emperor Valentinian I, who not only glass walls the rock into which they were were stacked to form a house complete enjoyed its cooling joys during the summer hewn. From floor to floor the visitor climbs with gable in order to provide a grave for months, but also passed legislation here. through the ages to the present day. three people. Very hard work for the He could revel in the wonderful view of Marché-aux-Poissons, L- 2345 Luxem- ancient undertakers… and an interesting both rivers and of the surrounding gentle bourg, tel. 00352-4793301 stop for the modern visitor, who can take a hills. The poet Ausonius was a guest in the geo-coordinates: 49.61157° N / 6.13369° E moment’s quiet break from his thirst for 4th century, and allowed himself to be exer-cise and cycling. Not far from the inspired to atmospheric lines by the Widdertshäuschen is the Hofgut Serrig, an attractions of the countryside. A trip with organic fruit and vegetable farm that also the White Fleet (Weisse Flotte) on the keeps livestock and has a farm shop. The Mosel or Saar gives you an idea of the old vineyard railway offers entertaining Mediterranean atmosphere that awaited trips around the farm. him in the villa. Remains of the walls have survived and provide a glimpse of the Martinusstraße, D-54455 Serrig technical perfection of Roman life: for geo-coordinates: 49.56856° N / 6.58133° E example a heating channel with a firing chamber for the bath wing. These

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remnants of past times are closely linked 046 HHH with St Niklaus’s church, for which the Igel Column (Igeler Säule), Igel famous artist Georg Meistermann painted 042 Temple complex Tawern the pictures for the altar. In the midst of the bustling upper Mosel village the 23 m high funerary monument Martinstraße 22, D-54329 Konz still stands exactly where it was built some geo-coordinates: 49.69515° N / 6.57454° E 1,700 years ago. It is richly decorated with mythological scenes and motifs from the everyday Roman life of the family of the 044 H Secundini, wealthy cloth producers and Via Caliga, Palzem – Wincheringen merchants. The only reason it survived the Wincheringen: the Via Caliga covers a total iconoclastic ravages of the Middle Ages distance of 24 km. For those looking for a was that it was believed to be the grave of 043 Imperial villa, Konz shorter tour, there is a 21 km circular route the saintly Helena, the mother of the em- near Palzem, or a 19 km circular route near peror Constantine. Today the Igel column Wincheringen. The path is named after the is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Latin word for the strapped boots worn by It is to be found, half hidden, on the main Roman soldiers: caliga. Experiencing what street behind the hotel of the same name, the ancient road was like is worthwhile, and is freely accessible. not just for the unique, almost southern Trierer Straße 41 (Hotel Igeler Säule), European landscape; there is also exciting D-54298 Trier-Igel information available on more than 20 geo-coordinates: 49.70898° N / 6.54978° E information boards along the path, which is part of the Mosel.Erlebnis.Route. You can stop off at numerous shelters and 047 HHH picnic sites, or refresh yourself at vineyards St Peter’s cathedral Trier and other gastronomic highlights. Once a huge double church stretched Start Wincheringen: at the railway station; from the present cathedral to the Haup- geo-coordinates: 49.60952° N / 6.40742° E; tmarkt. It’s origins can be traced back to 045 Grutenhäuschen Igel start Palzem: in the centre of the village at Constantine the Great, and the mighty the church; cathedral of St Peter which you see today 046 Igeler Säule geo-coordinates: 49.56484° N / 6.37440° E would surely have appeared quite small by comparison. As a result of an agreement with the emperor Licinius reached in Milan 045 HHH in 313, the persecution of the Christians Grutenhäuschen, Igel came to an end and they were granted Get married in a small Roman temple – it’s religious freedom. A first large basilica possible in the Grutenhäuschen. That is was built over a residential house in Trier, the name for the reconstructed prestigious the remains of which can be visited in the funerary monument from the 3rd century excavations under the Dom-Information AD between Langsur and Igel. It consists of (guided tours only). Every generation from two stories with an open, accessible burial Late Antiquity to the present day has left chamber. The elegant structure is situated its artistic and architectural mark on the in the midst of romantic vineyards with a cathedral. Its most valuable relic is the perfect view of the upper Mosel. The Heiliger Rock, which according to legend is remains of a Roman villa were discovered Christ’s tunic and was brought to Trier by not far away. Various thematic paths pass Constantine’s mother, Helena. through the area, while the Löwener Mühle Domfreihof, D-54290 Trier, vineyard nearby is testimony to the quality tel. +49 (0)651-9790790 (Dom-Information) of the wines that grow around the geo-coordinates: 49.75641° N / 6.64354° E Grutenhäuschen. D-54298 Igel-Liersberg geo-coordinates: 49.71627° N/6.53214° E

P age 48 048 HHH gold, the internal decoration of the Barba- rathermen, among the largest and most Museum am Dom, Trier impressive baths in the Roman Empire, The Cathedral and Diocese Museum can and much more. Audio-visual facilities offer those who are interested in art an ex- include twelve media stations and audio tensive collection of Christian works from guides in several languages, also available two millennia, from early Christianity to the in versions for children. Besides changing present day. In this respect Trier is a real temporary exhibitions the museum also treasure trove! The highlight of the exhi- presents the multimedia theatre “In the bition is the painting from the ceiling of a Kingdom of the Shadows”, which brings Roman house found beneath the cathed- everyday life in Roman Trier alive. ral. It is regarded as one of the most im- portant work of late Antique art. There are Weimarer Allee 1, D-54290 Trier, other spectacular finds to see, for example tel. +49 (0)651-97740 early Christian paintings from beneath St geo-coordinates: 49.75132° N / 6.64421° E Maximin’s Abbey. The collection is drawn from the entire Bishopric of Trier. The mo- 051 HHH 047 St Peter’s Cathedral Trier dern museum, now flooded with light, was once a royal Prussian prison. The Basilica of Constantine, Trier Bischof-Stein-Platz 1, D-54290 Trier, The Basilica of Constantine was built tel. +49 (0)651-7105-255 around AD 310 as the reception and throne geo-coordinates: 49.75682° N / 6.64479° E room of the imperial palace, and with an interior 67 metres long and 33 metres high is the largest single room that has still sur- 049 HHH vived from the ancient world. Organ con- 048 Museum am Dom Trier certs that take place here are spectacular: Viehmarkt Roman baths, Trier the instrument’s echo lasts for seven se- Ancient meets modern: the impressive conds. The building is now used as a chur- remains of the third baths for the Roman ch and evangelical-protestant services are inhabitants of Augusta Treverorum were conducted in it. The interior is imposing discovered in 1987 during building work in its dignified simplicity, and the wooden for an underground car park beneath the ceiling which spans the enormous room Viehmarkt in the heart of the city. The fa- quite remarkable. Situated at the edge mous architect Oskar Mathias Ungers built of the city centre, the Basilica dominates a highly modern glass cube over the ruins, 049 Viehmarkt baths the town and is one of the stations on the which dominates the square. As a result UNESCO World Heritage thematic route. the site not only attracts visitors interested in history to the old walls, but also friends Konstantinplatz, D-54290 Trier, of architecture. Temporary exhibitions and tel. +49 (0)651-42570 events are staged in the unusual space. geo-coordinates: 49.75327° N / 6.64327° E Viehmarktplatz, D-54290 Trier, tel. +49 (0)651-9941057 052 HHH geo-coordinates: 49.75274° N / 6.63765° E The Roman Bridge, Trier Sturdy and robust, today the bridge serves 050 HHH car drivers, cyclists and pedestrians. The 400 m long Roman bridge was built in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Trier second century AD, a thoroughly stable Fans of the Romans just have to visit the structure that replaced an earlier, more museum. Here you can find, among other fragile wooden bridge on the same site. things, the most extensive exhibition in 050 Landesmuseum Trier Germany on all aspects of life in the first four centuries of the Christian era. The permanent exhibition presents the foun- 051 Basilica of Constantine Trier dation of Augusta Treverorum, the oldest city in Germany, massive funerary monu- ments with lively scenes of everyday life, splendid mosaics from the Roman imperial palace, the world’s largest hoard of Roman

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Seven piers stand on the river bed, two 055 HHH more on the banks. The architectural Imperial Baths, Trier elements visible today include the Roman piers and Gothic arches. Here today’s The palace baths, the Kaiserthermen or traffic flows over one of the oldest bridges Imperial Baths, were intended as the north of the Alps. pinnacle of luxurious bathing culture. But the building, which would have been one St. Barbara-Ufer/ Johanniterufer, of the largest Roman baths, was never D-54290 Trier completed and never used. There is geo-coordinates: 49.75181° N / 6.62784° E evidence that it was later employed as a military barracks. A professional actor playing the role of the “Tribune Mallobau- 053 HHH des” regularly provides an entertaining Amphitheatre, Trier insight into the times. The extensive The amphitheatre was built in the late 2nd network of underground heating and century AD, and is part of the UNESCO service passages are vivid testimony to World Heritage Site. In days gone by the just how gigantic the “wellness temple” ancient entertainment venue, where was intended to be. Among the things to 052 The Roman Bridge Trier gladiators and wild beasts fought, could see, the lines traced by a Roman builder’s hold some 20,000 people. Apart from the compass on the plaster are particularly arena and the passageways for spectators, 053 Amphitheatre interesting. Today the Imperial Baths serve today you can see a large underground as an open air stage and venue within the room which probably once housed a lift town. that could transport the participants onto Weberbach, D-54290 Trier, the stage quickly and efficiently. You can tel. +49 (0)651-4362550 also see the original wooden beams of a geo-coordinates: 49.75045° N / 6.64139° E piston pump that was used to drain off water. Although today the rows of seats are covered with grass: once again there is 056 HHH a school for gladiators that offers Porta Nigra, Trier workshops and guided tours for groups of visitors. In addition, in the evening an The city gate, blackened with soot, is actor in the role of the gladiator Valerius the trademark of Germany’s oldest city. conducts regular tours of the fighting Built of sandstone blocks weighing up arena and recounts tales from his life. to six tonnes, it is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Roman gate was erected Olewiger Str., D-54295 Trier, about AD 180, and is the best preserved of tel. +49 (0)651-73010 its kind north of the Alps. It houses the re- geo-coordinates: 49.74702° N / 6.64891° E mains of a double church, and is adjoined by the medieval Simeonstift, home to the City Museum. Situated in the middle of the 054 HHH pedestrian precinct, and surrounded by the Barbarathermen Baths, Trier bustle of modern urban life, restaurants The Barbarathermen are among the largest and shops, the Porta Nigra offers a fine surviving Roman baths. They were built in 054 Barbarathermen Baths Trier view. As with the Imperial Baths and the the second century AD and – in contrast to Amphitheatre, theatrical guided tours are the Imperial Baths, which were probably available. never completed – provided luxurious Entrance Stadtmuseum Simeonstift, bathing facilities for the inhabitants of the Simeonstr. 60, D-54290 Trier, town. Remains of the splendid interior tel. +49 (0)651-7181459; decoration are to be seen in the Rheini- geo-coordinates: 49.75964° N / 6.64365° E sches Landesmuseum. The foundations, underground passages and remains of the underfloor heating are preserved and provide an insight into the high level of Roman technology. However, today’s visitor can only view the site from the visitors’ terrace. At present the baths are closed for restoration work. Südallee, D-54290 Trier; geo-coordinates: 49.75034° N / 6.63091° E

055 Imperial Baths 057 H mes used for wine-tastings. It is open from Easter to November Sundays only from 2 Summer Palace, Trier-Pfalzel – 4 pm or by appointment. The front cellar Pfalzel, a suburb of Trier on the Eifel bank is open, the two at the back can be viewed of the Mosel, can trace its origins back to through a grill. a Roman settlement. The remains of the walls of a fortified palace are preserved Heimatmuseum Kenn, Im Ecken 11, in several places, including in the area of D-54344 Kenn, tel. +49 (0)6502-2391 the present parish church. The medieval geo-coordinates: 49.80054° N / 6.72565° E village centre is situated directly on the Mosel cycle path, and is an ideal stop for 060 HH the restless time traveller: here you will find fine restaurants, and from the bank of Longuich villa urbana 056 Porta Nigra Trier the Mosel there is a wonderful view of the The partial reconstruction of a Roman vil- river and pleasure boats or gentle barges la can be visited among the vineyards of as they pass by. Longuich, near to the Moseltal motorway Kirchplatz, D-54293 Trier junction at Schweich. Only part of it has geo-coordinates: 49.78075° N / 6.69460° E been excavated and studied so far, but it must have been huge and impressive. Today you can see the baths of the main 058 RuwerValley Roman Aqueduct 058 HH building, and close by a vineyard modelled on a Roman original. In front of the buil- Ruwer Valley Roman Aqueduct, ding is a stone sarcophagus in which the Waldrach skeleton of a delicate girl lay, together with The provincial capital at Trier already drew a spherical glass with a funnel-shaped part of its water supply from the Ruwer neck among the grave goods. There are valley. Part of an aqueduct that was large guided tours from April to October on Sun- 060 Longuich villa urbana enough to walk through was found near days at 10.30 am. In addition, if you want Waldrach, and a reconstruction can be vie- on Saturdays and Sundays in the summer wed in a car park in the Ruwertalstrasse. season (from May to October) you can visit The underground aqueduct was built in the a vineyard festival at the “Treffpunkt Win- 2nd century AD, and it has been calcula- zerhof”. ted that it could convey the same amount of water as the annual consumption of the Access via the roundabout on the Trierer Str., Mosel metropolis today. Nothing has chan- D-54340 Longuich, tel. +49 (0)6502-1716; ged: today Trier still draws water from the geo-coordinates: 49.80403° N / 6.76485° E Ruwer Valley. A section that is well worth viewing can be found directly next to the 062 Mehring villa rustica 061 HH Ruwer-Hochwald cycle path. Mehring villa rustica Bahnhofstraße, D-54230 Waldrach 063 Aqueduct Pölich geo-coordinates: In the middle of Mehring (on the right bank visible section: 49.74630° N / 6.74103° E; of the Mosel) a Roman villa has been reconstruction: 49.74016° N / 6.74275° E partially reconstructed. Although it seems quite modest today, once it was one of the largest and most impressive villas in the 059 H region around Trier. The increasing wealth and agricultural success of the owners is Cellar of a Roman villa, Kenn evident in the various phases of the Life in Kenn in the 2nd century AD had building. The once proud house fell victim style and was luxurious. Numerous finds to Germanic invaders – like so many from a luxurious Roman villa – including others – and the ruins were apparently columns, marble panels, the remains of later occupied by Franks. The villa is not far mosaics and wall paintings, as well as pas- from the cycle path and is a good stopping sageways, vaults and walls – bear witness off point. There are guided tours from to a luxurious Roman villa. All that can be Easter to October on Sundays at 11.30 am. seen today is a long Roman cellar with There is an exhibition in the Heimatmuseum. three sections next to the Heimatmuseum, and the copy of a Roman statue – a spring nymph. The underground room is someti-

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Villa rustica: In der Kirchheck, 54346 064 HHH 066 HH Mehring, Heimat- and Wine Museum Roman Centre Neumagen-Dhron Winery, Erden Mehring, Bachstr. 47, D-54346 Mehring, Roman Noviomagus, present-day Here a partially reconstructed Roman wine- tel. +49 (0)6502-1413; (TI Mehring) Neumagen, is thought to be the oldest cellar is situated at the foot of the Erdener geo-coordinates: 49.79411° N / 6.83437° E wine-making town in Germany. The Prälat and Erdener Treppchen vineyards. tombstones of rich citizens and merchants The walls, some with a herring-bone pat- were re-used in the walls of the late Roman tern, are remarkably well preserved and 062 HH fort, and provide a very lively picture of make for an interesting stop directly on the Water supply for a Roman villa, Pölich everyday Roman life. The famous funerary Mosel cycle path and the B 53 main road. A A bit of a thirst for adventure is important: monuments from Neumagen can today be steep path runs up into the vineyards and you can visit the channel of a Roman seen in the Landesmuseum in Trier, but illustrates just how hard work used to be in aqueduct not far from a villa near Pölich. copies mark the stations of a circular the vineyards, and indeed still is (length: The channel is 1.20 m high and half a archaeological path. At the 17 stations you 2.9 to 4.3 km). The view into the Mosel val- metre wide, and is openly accessible. It can see, among other things, the famous ley is of course stunning, and it is impres- was carved out of the slate hillside and wine ship, a school scene, a hairdressing sive how the terraces of the vineyards hug apparently supplied the baths of a large scene, rent being paid, etc. The highlight the rocky slopes. The Roman winery in the Roman villa. Such luxury was not is an authentic reconstruction of the wine valley not only provides an insight into Ro- uncommon then, and bears testimony not ship, the Stella Noviomagi, which offers man wine-making methods, but also has a just to the remarkable technical skills of short river trips at the weekend. There is a function room in which events can be sta- the Romans – but also to their enormous multimedia centre near the quay, with ged all year round. information on the history of the original water consumption. There is a small Winery opposite the village of Erden, and the building of the reconstruction. information centre about the aqueduct in on the other side of the Mosel; There are tours from May to October on the neighbouring old fire station. A 1 km geo-coordinates: 49.98151° N / 7.02759° E circular path leads to interesting points. Fridays and Saturdays. Im Weinberg, D-54340 Pölich The circular walk starts at the Tourist 067 HH geo-coordinates: 49.79719° N / 6.84723° E Information Office Neumagen-Dhron, Hinterburg 8, D-54347 Neumagen-Dhron, Winery, Brauneberg tel. +49 (0)6507-6555; Dulcis mons – sweet mountain – was what 063 HH geo-coordinates: 49.84993° N / 6.89404° E the Romans called the ridge at the foot Roman Path Trittenheim-Minheim of which the Brauneberg wine-cellar is For serious walkers the 20 kilometres of 065 HH to be found; and the name certainly had the thematic path and climb “Römersteig” something to do with wine. The vineyards offers a breathtaking route connecting the Winery, Piesport here are called “Brauneberger Juffer”, and ancient treasures between Trittenheim The important role Piesport played as a are highly rated among wine connoisseurs. and Minheim. The famous stone wine ship wine-making centre in Roman times is not The Roman winery is on the left bank of from Neumagen-Dhron was found here, just testified to in some verses from the Mosel opposite Brauneberg, directly and its reconstruction now plies the Mosel Ausonius’s poem “Mosella”, but also in on the B 53 main road. It is an ideal stop with its passengers. The town lay on the numerous archaeological finds; for for visitors to the Mosel, whether in a car, Roman road from Trier via Bingen to Mainz, example a glass cage cup, a wine goblet a mobile home or on a motorcycle. The Mo- and the path follows it for part of the consisting of two layers ground from a sel.Erlebnis.Route leads walkers to it. You way. Replicas of funerary monuments or single block of glass, or the “imperial can test just how well Mosel wine and Ro- a wine cellar among the vineyards on the brooch”, a fastener for a cloak which the man food go together in the Brauneberger slopes of the “Piesporter Goldtröpfchen” emperor Constantine granted to an Hof in Brauneberg. important person on the occasion of the (Piesport Golden Drop) recount stories geo-coordinates winery: 10th jubilee of his accession. Both are from the ancient world for walkers. Infor- 49.91394° N / 6.99598° E mation boards invite you take occasional, today in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum informative breaks. The views from the in Trier. But the most spectacular “Römersteig” down to the Mosel are spec- discoveries in Piesport were made in 1985 068 HH tacular, and at the same time rambling wi- and 1991. On the edge of the famous Winery, Maring-Noviand ne-lovers can enjoy some of the best wine slopes of the “Piesporter Goldtröpfchen” districts on the Mosel. the remains of Roman wineries dating to In Maring-Noviand, near the famous half- the 4th and 2nd centuries AD were found timbered town of Bernkastel-Kues, vines Starting points: e.g. bridges over the Mosel not far apart. The 4th-century winery has were already grown in Roman times. Here at Trittenheim: 49.82192° N / 6.90348° E been authentically reconstructed. the remains of a large Roman farm can Neumagen-Dhron: 49.85732° N / 6.89117° E be seen, which included a winery among and Piesport: 49.88621° N / 6.91660° E Ausoniusufer, D-54498 Piesport its agricultural buildings. This is quite geo-coordinates: 49.88582° N / 6.91131° E unusual, since all other ancient wine- ries we know of were built directly in the vineyards. In order to protect the valuable remains, a protective structure has been P age 52 erected over the mash, pressing and fer- geo-coordinates: 49.97270° N / 6.90138° E mentation basins, and can be viewed by 063 Römersteig appointment. A heavy sandstone which HH can be seen outside probably served as 071 the weight for a screw press. „Straße der Römer“ in Zell (Mosel) Opening times: normally Saturday The town of Zell (Mosel), today a bustling mornings by appointment, tourist centre, was once a Roman sett- Tel.: (+49)06535-944200. An der lement with luxurious buildings. The re- Römerkelter, D-54484 Maring-Noviand, mains of the baths in the Heimatmuseum, geo-coordinates: 49.92620° N / 6.98143° E and the ash cist on the bank of the Mosel as a resting place for the deceased, still 064 Roman Centre Neumagen-Dhron bear witness to the old settlement. There 069 HH was once a hill-top temple high above the Villa Romana, Veldenz town on the Beinter Kopf, from where there is still a wonderful view of the Mosel val- The discovery of the Roman villa was curi- ley. A thematic path “Straße der Römer” ous: when an existing historical building (length: 18.2 km) leads from the town up was being renovated in 1990/1991, it was to the remains of the old walls and on into planned to add a cellar. The surprise was the Altlayer Bach valley. There, deep in great when the work uncovered some Ro- the woods, was a refuge for the populati- man baths, and the old building gained on from marauding hoards of barbarians. not just a cellar, but also a tourist attrac- Today the fortification is known as the tion. If the owners of the half-timbered 065 Winery Piesport “Alteburg”, and unusually well preserved house had known that a wellness oasis remains of the walls wait to be discovered was slumbering beneath their feet, then here. perhaps they would have grabbed a spade earlier. Today there is a small museum of Starting point: Schwarze Katz Brunnen / the history of the town in the Villa Romana, Rathaus, Balduinstrasse 44, D-56856 Zell/ as the “Haus des Gastes” is now called, Mosel; the Heimatmuseum is in the town as well as a coin collection and changing hall (Rathaus), tel. +49 (0)6542-96220; temporary art exhibitions. Here you can geo-coordinates: buy pretty souvenirs and books, and there Beinter Kopf: 50.012429° N / 7.179171° E, is also a cosy place to buy drinks. Alteburg: 49.995640° N / 7.230269° E 066 Winery Erden Villa Romana, Hauptstraße 28, D-54472 Veldenz, tel. +49 (0)6534-1203 072 H geo-coordinates: 49.88942° N / 7.02327° E Stone chamber tomb, St. Aldegund Although the Romans were quite ingenious 070 H(H) in the ways they buried their dead, a stone Roman villa, Wittlich chamber grave such as the one in St. Aldegund is nevertheless a rarity. It is The once opulent villa in the Lieser valley certainly worth making the detour from the near Wittlich had to make way for pro- Moselweinstrasse or the Mosel cycle path. gress: the columns of a motorway bridge It was constructed of massive stone slabs, put an abrupt end to the country idyll. But 067 Winery Brauneberg and was the last resting place of a Roman that was always part of life: new roads for lady who was buried with valuable grave prosperity and progress. The remains of 069 Villa Romana Veldenz goods, including a small fine blue glass the Roman villa have now been preserved ship. However there are only Photos of the and are open to the public. They are em- bedded in an excellent touristic infrastruc- ture, for example in the premium circu- lar path “Säubrenner Route”. This tour is an adventure trail along the Eifelsteig , a “Toptrail of Germany”. A nordic walking path and a cycle path joined to the Maare- Mosel cycle path links the villa and the town. And of course it is easy to reach by car. Further investments in the touristic infrastructure are planned. Tip: Signposted circular path no. 6 from Viehmarktplatz in Wittlich, length c. 7 km Map no 24 from the Eifelverein P age 53

074 Hill-top temple on the Calmont ➔ ON MOSEL – SAAR treasures at the site itself; to see the the weekend, then – when you get there – originals you will have to travel to the you can enjoy one or two glasses of wine Landesmuseum at Festung Ehrenbreitstein. from the steep vineyards. Getting down is 071 Straße der Römer Zell (Mosel) For art lovers another grave is to be never a problem. And in the neighbouring recommended; in the old hilltop chapel villages of Ediger-Eller and Bremm cosy on the slopes the famous art collector restaurants and wine-cellars invite you to Peter Ludwig found his last resting place. refresh yourself. Stone chamber grave: Klosterkammerstr. Railway station in Eller; 71, D-56858 St. Aldegund; hilltop chapel: a geo-coordinates car park nearest the footpath leads from the street „Auf der temple: 50.10405° N / 7.10408° E Teusch“ through the vineyards and gardens up to the church; geo-coordinates HH tomb: 50.07415° N / 7.12889° O 075 075 Double Chamber Grave Nehren Double chamber grave, Nehren The Mosel valley must have been densely 073 H populated. Rich villas and the homes Hilltop fortification and workplaces of the simple populati- on the Petersberg, Neef on lined the fertile banks. Ships plied the Mosel and transported goods to all over Within sight of the cross at the summit of the world. Nehren too was probably once the Calmont there was a hilltop fortifica- the site of a large Roman villa. Wine was tion in later Roman times – as hordes of 077 Martberg Pommern produced here, as the stone weight from barbarians threatened life and soul – high a Roman wine press testifies. The landow- above Neef. The site is also part of the ners perhaps found their last resting place Calmont-Region cultural path. The Roman 078 Stiftsmuseum Treis-Karden high above their house along an impor- troops will have had an excellent view of tant Roman road with a wonderful view of the Mosel valley from the “Eulenköpfchen” the Mosel valley. The two small funerary and the area around the picturesque cha- temples have now been reconstructed. pel of St Peter. Today you have to be a bit Wall paintings from the left-hand burial of a detective to find the remains of the chamber have survived – and that is quite fortification, but the panorama is just fan- remarkable – and can be viewed through tastic. Within easy walking distance are a window. The village of Nehren and the the pretty ruins of the Kloster Stuben, a po- double tomb are connected by a thematic pular motif for photographers. You can get path. (length 4.5 km) there either by footpaths with fine views, or else comfortably and over level ground Starting point: village square by Nehren along the Mosel cycle path. village hall and fire station. geo-coordinates car park on the K22: geo-coordinates: 50.09870° N / 7.13335° E 50.09044° N / 7.18253° E

074 HH 076 H Hilltop temple on the Calmont, 080 Fortification Ehrenbreitstein Calmont-Region Archaeological path, Which gods were worshipped here high Brutting-Fankel above the Calmont, Europe’s steepest An old Celtic and Roman road runs right vineyard, between Bremm and Ediger-El- through the woods above Bruttig-Frankel. ler? Perhaps Succellus, the god of wine? Along it are groups of burial mounds from We don’t know. Recently a Roman hilltop various ages. More recent are a defensi- temple was reconstructed at the highest ve dyke and a system of medieval sunken point of the Calmont, opposite the Kloster roads. The centuries are so close together Stuben, the picturesque ruins of an old that it is hard to believe that so much 081 Culture Park Bliesbruck-Reinheim church. Both religious houses are connec- time separates them. Sooner or later all ted by the Calmont-Region cultural path, mankind’s achievements are reclaimed by an enjoyable walk with steep sections sui- nature, so carefully preserving their traces table for all ages (length: 7 to 9 km). If you – as long as man doesn’t deliberately des- take the path to the cross at the summit at troy them. A classroom in the woods offers school groups the chance to learn in the open air. (Length 2.5 km). geo-coordinates car park on the K35: 50.14856° N / 7.25844° E

P age 54 082 Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte Saarbrücken ➔ IN saarland

077 HHH 079 H 081 HHH Martberg Archaeological Park, Roman villa, Winningen European Culture Park Pommern A Roman villa on the motorway: the owner Bliesbruck-Reinheim, On the Martberg you really do feel close certainly would not have chosen this as Gersheim-Reinheim to the gods. Here the Celts already had the site for his house. But today the traffic In the middle of the Bliesgau UNESCO a town with an extensive temple that re- surely doesn’t bother him. On the contrary, Biosphere Reserve, on the Franco-German mained important throughout the Ro- his present-day visitors have the advan- border, is a rather special archaeological man period. Lenus-Mars was worshipped tage of excellent transport infrastructure park: German and French scholars have here and many a sick person came to be and can always find a parking space at the excavated archaeological features from healed, as votive gifts indicate. Until the nearby motorway services – within wal- several centuries over an area of more than Christians arrived and put a final end to king distance of the villa. A model of the 70 ha. The grave of the famous Reinheim the pagan cult. Today part of the sanctua- villa and a few finds are displayed in the Celtic Princess was found here, and ry they destroyed has been reconstructed museum in Winningen, and there is also a visitors can see an impressive walk-in and provides an attractive destination for display about Winningen’s honorary citi- reconstruction of the burial. Directly next day-trippers and walkers with a thirst for zen August Horch, the founder of Audi. A to it are the foundations of what was once history. The Lenus-Mars path leads up on- detour to the pretty village on the Mosel is an ornate Roman villa with an imposing to the hill from Karden, and then on down certainly worthwhile. main building, and partially reconstructed to Pommern (length 5 km). By car you can outhouses. Also well worth visiting: the Roman villa: motorway A 61, near the drive almost to the temple, and a shuttle fine public baths and the remains of the motorway services Winningen-Ost; bus runs at the weekend. small Gallo-Roman town. Interesting Museum Winningen: Schulstraße 5, programme of events. D-56829 Pommern, tel. +49(0)2672-9157700 D-56333 Winningen, tel. +49 (0)2606-2214 geo-coordinates: 50.17892° N / 7.28567° E or 2126; geo-coordinates villa: 50.31783° N Robert-Schuman-Str. 2, D-66453 Gersheim- / 7.50058° E Reinheim, tel. +49 (0)6843-900211; geo-coordinates: 49.13505° N / 7.18343° E 078 HHH Stiftsmuseum, Treis-Karden 080 HHH 082 HHH In the small Stiftsmuseum in Treis-Karden, Landesmuseum in der Festung Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, behind the collegiate church (Stiftskir- Ehrenbreitstein, Koblenz che) in the medieval collegiate building, Saarbrücken High above the confluence of Mosel and the finds from the Romano-Celtic temple As the “archaeological showcase” for Rhine sits the Festung Ehrenbreitstein, on the Martberg and the treasures from Saarland, the Museum für Vor- und once a military bulwark and today a po- the medieval canon foundation of St Cas- Frühgeschichte in Saarbrücken displays a pular destination for days out. It houses a tor invite you on a journey through 2,000 wide range of exhibits – from Stone Age Landesmuseum in which Celtic and Roman years of religious history. Whether it was hand axes to ornate Merovingian disc objects from the surrounding area can be the temple of Lenus-Mars or the venerable brooches of gold and precious stones. The seen, including the precious grave goods collegiate area, which had its origins in the showpiece of the museum’s collection is from St. Aldegund, finds from the Mart- work of St Castor as a missionary: the holy the famous burial of the Celtic Princess berg, and a valuable Roman army dragon sites had an enormous religious influence from Reinheim, with her precious jewellery standard. In 2010 a cable car up to the that today only the relics can convey. From and valuable grave goods. The museum fortress was opened. Visitors who want to Karden the Lenus-Mars path takes you up also has an extensive and varied learn about the military history of the site to the Martberg Archaeological Park (dis- educational programme, and stages should enjoy a guided tour through the tance 3 km). frequent temporary exhibitions. bastions and walls with a actor playing the St. Castor-Str. 2, D-56253 Treis-Karden, role of the “eternal soldier”. Am Schlossplatz 16, D-66119 Saarbrücken, entrance next to the Stiftskirche. tel. +49 (0)681-9964-4234 Festung Ehrenbreitstein, D-56077 Koblenz, tel. +49 (0)2672-9157700 (Tourist-Info) geo-coordinates: 49.23081° N / 6.99146° E tel. +49 (0)261-66750 geo-coordinates: 50.18360° N / 7.30185° E geo-coordinates: 50.36633° N / 7.61600° E 083 H Mithras-Heiligtum, Saarbrücken The followers of the cult of Mithras turned a cave in a cliff in the Halberg in Saarbrü- cken into a temple. The result was a three-aisled room with a nearly 4 m high vaulted ceiling in the middle, and a transept. In the Middle Ages the “Heidengrotte” (heathen grotto) became an attraction for pilgrims. Little is known

P age 55 ➔ im saarland

about the ancient mystery religion, which Sirona and the fertility goddess Rosmerta 088 HHH was restricted to men. Mithras, often were worshipped here, as well as the Roman villa and tumulus, Nennig represented as the sun god, is said to have Roman deities Apollo, Mercury, Minerva 2 been sent into the world by a father god in and Silvanus. With an area of 160 m the magnificent mo- order to save it. He was born in a rocky saic floor is among the largest and best Site: between Ihn and Niedaltdorf on cave, and is represented as a young man preserved north of the Alps. It used to the L 354; car park; in a Phrygian cap. decorate the central room of a luxurious geo-coordinates: 49.33460° N / 6.60774° E Roman villa, and is adorned with scenes Saarländischer Rundfunk visitors’ car park from the circus, fights with animals, on the Halberg, Dr. Franz-Mai-Straße, gladiators and musicians. An informative 086 HH D-66121 Saarbrücken; from there on foot film provides a vivid impression of what (signposted, nearly 10 mins) to the cave; Pachten Museum and Römerpark, the villa will have looked like in Roman geo-coordinates: 49.22259° N / 7.02795° E Dillingen times. The tumulus nearby is also well Housed in an old farmhouse, the objects worth a visit. It is assumed to be the funerary monument of the owner of the 084 HH displayed by the museum include finds from the Stone Age to the Frankish period. villa, and is a small-scale copy of the tomb Emilianusstollen, The main focus is on the Gallo-Roman of Augustus in Rome. Wallerfangen - St. Barbara vicus of Contiomagus beneath Pachten. It Römerstr. 11, D-66706 Perl-Nennig The Roman copper mine got its name from includes a large Roman cremation tel. +49 (0)6866-1329; an extant Roman inscription which cemetery, houses, workshops, temple geo-coordinates: 49.52915 N / 6.38347 E confirms that one Aemilianus started complexes, a cult theatre and large villas. mining operations her on March 7 Roman cremation burials and a Frankish (unfortunately the year is not mentioned). inhumation burial have been reconstruc- 089 HH The inscription is a so-called occupatio, ted in a darkened room. The museum is Schwarzenacker Roman Museum, and is a particularly important document adjoined by the Römerpark, a zone for Homburg on mining law for it is the only one that has activities and events. A tower from the fort survived from the entire Roman Empire. has been reconstructed only a few metres Here the visitor can stroll gently through a The mine itself is also unusual for traces of from the park and Ökosee lake, as well as reconstructed Roman roadside settlement Roman tools preserved in the rock face, a theatre and a playground based on (vicus)! 1,900 years ago some 2,000 and the finds from the infill can be dated. Roman originals. people lived here and brought life to the The complex is thought to have been streets with their colonnaded sidewalks Fischerstr. 2, D-66763 Dillingen appreciably larger than what is known of it and drains. Attractions include; the “Haus tel. +49 (0)6831-709212; today. des Augenarztes” (optician’s house) with geo-coordinates: 49.35498° N / 6.70843° E its elegant interior, and the “Säulenkeller- Schlossbergstraße, D-66798 Wallerfangen haus”, which gets its name from its cellar - St. Barbara district with columns. At the crossroads the 087 HHH (the entrance is some 150 m from the inhabitants could refresh themselves at main road). The mine can only be visited Borg Roman villa Archaeological Park, “Capitolinus”. The fresh bread which was on guided tours,tel. +49 (0)6831-444-449 Perl-Borg served there came from the bakery which (Landkreis Saarlouis); The reconstruction of the Roman villa has been reconstructed. And next door the geo-coordinates approx.: 49.32812° N / complex presents a fine impression of how inn offered travelling merchants, officials, 6.68382° E pleasant and stylish life was for the workmen and passers-by board and privileged 2,000 years ago. You can even lodging. In addition: temple with ambula- tory for the god Mercury, and the Edelhaus 085 H experience this yourself, for example with an adventure tour with the slave Jatros. At with Roman finds and other exhibits. Sudelfels temple and spring, the villa you can see: gatehouse, main In addition: Gallo-Roman temple with Ihn near Niedaltdorf building with baths, gardens with kitchen ambulatory for the god Mercury, baroque At the foot of the Hirnberg are the remains garden, kitchen, archaeological museum museum building (Edelhaus) with gardens. of a Gallo-Roman sanctuary with several and the current excavations. Tasty Roman Homburger Str. 38, D-66424 Homburg small temples within a walled precinct and and regional dishes are served in the tel. +49 (0)6848-730777; a secular building, once a Roman farm- Roman tavern. Roman festival, first geo-coordinates: 49.28286° N / 7.31616° E stead with outhouses. Visitors can see: weekend in August. stove and steps, underfloor heating and a Im Meeswald 1, D-66706 Perl-Borg, cold bath. One of the small temples has a tel. +49 (0)6865-91170; hexagonal plan and houses a hexagonal geo-coordinates: 49.49642° N / 6.45810° E basin that was filled from a spring. Water still bubbles to the surface here. Probably the Celtic spring and mother goddess

P age 56 090 H The site can be reached on the Fritz-Wun- derlich foot and cycle path. By car: Historical footpath Kasbruchtal, Autobahn A1, exit Reichweiler, then follow Neunkirchen 084 Emilianusstollen the signposts. Car park directly next to the The 6 km footpath leads from the car park Mithras temple at Schwarzerdener Weiher; at the waterworks, or alternatively the car geo-coordinates: 49.53708° N / 7.28263° E park at the “Die Lakai” swimming pool, through the Kasbruchtal nature reserve. Detours take you to various historical 093 HH Roman sites. Among the attractions are a Monumental burial mound, Oberlöstern Roman quarry, the “Opferstein” quarry, and the so-called “Jungfernstiege” paths, In Wadern-Oberlöstern the reconstruction which lead to Roman cremation burials. of two rare Roman monumental burial 086 Pachten Museum The copy of a bronze statue of a figure in mounds with square enclosing walls from armour found here and the fundament of the 2nd century AD can be visited. an early Frankish iron smelting furnace are Important people must have been buried exhibited in the Rathaus (Town Hall) of the here. The two neighbouring mounds are 20 county town of Neunkirchen. m in diameter and were excavated and investigated in the 1990s. Each was Car park „Die Lakai“: An der Lakaienschäfe- crowned with a stone pine cone, and rei 1, D-66538 Neunkirchen; geo-coordi- between them was a monumental funerary nates: 49.32734° N/ 7.19389° E column. After the completion of the 087 Borg Roman villa excavation the mounds were reconstructed in their original form. The associated 091 HH settlement was situated 400 m away. Excavation project Wareswald, Tholey On the road connecting Wadern-Gehweiler A Gallo-Roman settlement is being and Wadern-Oberlöstern; excava-ted at Wareswald near Tholey. The geo-coordinates:49.57979° N/6.91390° E vicus was once very important and situated at the crossroads of two Roman main roads. The discovery of underfloor 094 H heating and elaborate baths testify to the Celtic Hillfort, Otzenhausen high standard of living of the old inhabi- tants. Free guided tours are available every The so-called “Hunnenring” near Otzen- first Sunday in the month (May to Octo- hausen is one of the most impressive 088 Nennig Roman villa ber), and amateurs can participate in fortifications in Europe. The remains of excavation camps. Information: the ramparts are still 10 m high and 40 m tel. +49 (0)6853-8540749 wide, and bear witness to these unique Celtic defensive works. Surrounded by the Car par "Wendelinus-Rad- und enchanting countryside of the Schwarz- Wanderweg"; geo-coordinates: wälder Hochwald, it was once a centre of 49.49194° N / 7.05583° E power of the Celtic Treveri. The nearby princely burial mounds near Schwarzenbach are testimony to its builders. Thematic 092 H footpaths and the sculpture path “Cerda Mithras monument, Schwarzerden & Celtoi”, inspired by the Celts, ensure 089 Schwarzenacker Roman Museum The cult statue of the sun god Mithras is all that your visit is an experience not to that has survived of a temple that was be forgotten. There is also a children’s once situated close to a Roman settle- discovery path for kids, as well as annual ment. It portrays Mithras, who is in the special events. process of killing a bull, on horseback. Information on the extensive programme Torch bearers are standing to the left and of events: Tourist Info Nonnweiler, tel. +49 right of him, one of them holding his torch (0)6873/660-76. Waldparkplatz, Ringwallstra- up high, the other lowering his. The two ße, D-66620 Otzenhausen; symbolise the rising and setting sun. Here geo-coordinates: 49.61602° N / 6.99614° E it is worthwhile combining Roman history with exercise.

091 Wareswald excavation project

P age 57 ➔ IN THE HUNSRÜCK

095 HHH 097 HHH Ausonius long-distance path, Belginum Archaeological Park, 093 Burial mound, Oberlöstern Bingen-Trier Morbach-Wederath Walk along an old Roman main road: for The Vicus Belginum, a roadside settle- some 107 km from Bingen to Trier the ment, was always an important station on Ausonius long-distance path follows an the road from Bingen to Trier, and had its ancient route along which the Roman poet origins during the reign of Augustus. Today Ausonius travelled from the Rhine valley to a museum keeps the memory of the old the Mosel. Wherever possible the Romans settlement alive, and is an interesting stop built their roads as straight as a die, and for travellers and tourists on the Hunsrück- so too the historical path follows often höhenstrasse, or of course for Ausonius surprisingly straight tracks through woods walkers. In the permanent exhibition finds and meadows. Hunsrück-Touristik offers from the cemetery reveal how people lived Ausonius walkers taking the route various here earlier. The extensive open-air area, packages that provide the modern tourist with a reconstructed well, children’s play with every service they could wish for, area and a 2 km circular walk with eight including luggage transfer. well illustrated information boards invites you on a tour of discovery. Annual 095 Belginum Archaeological Park Hunsrück-Touristik GmbH, temporary exhibitions, lectures and events Gebäude 663, D-55483 Hahn-Flughafen, complement the information on the life of tel. +49 (0)6543-507700 the Celtic and Roman inhabitants of the Hunsrück. H 096 Keltenstr. 2, D-54497 Morbach-Wederath Haus der regionalen Geschichte/ tel. +49 (0)6533-957630; House of Regional History, Kastellaun geo-coordinates: 49.85531° N / 7.16434° E Kastellaun lies in the middle of an old road network. The dense settlement has left its 098 H traces here, and Celtic and Roman finds testify to the history of the centre of the Hochwaldmuseum, Hermeskeil Hunsrück. The Sponheimer Berg rises on Of course Celts and Romans lived in steep rocky slopes above the centre of the Hermeskeil, the name of which strangely town. The castle buildings beneath it today includes the name of the winged house the Haus der regionalen Geschich- messenger of the Roman gods. There are te, which offers a journey through 3,000 numerous traces of scattered pre-Roman years of Kastellaun’s history. All accompa- settlements: Celtic cemeteries, ancient nied by an entertaining programme of Celtic tracks, and Roman roads with villas 097 Belginum Archaeological Park events, and an event restaurant that along them. The main focus of the specialises in “goings-on in a medieval Hochwald-museum as a window onto the castle”. For example from June to October past of the region is the presentation and there are games, fun and adventure for analysis of rural life and work here. What is kids every Sunday midday. special about it is not so much the historical exhibits as the varied and Burg Kastellaun (Unterburg), D-56288 captivating way in which the individual Kastellaun, tel. +49 (0)6762-407214; themes are presented. “Rheinland-Pfalz geo-coordinates: 50.07094° N / 7.43831° E Museum Prize for Civil Commitment” 2005. Trierer Straße 49, D-54411 Hermeskeil tel. +49 (0)6503-953515; geo-coordinates: 49.65598° N / 6.94319° E

P age 58 Gods, graves and gladiators – German- Day trip to the Saar valley Luxembourg tour of the upper Mosel The idyllic Saar valley between Konz and Travel from Germany to Luxembourg and Saarburg offers a whole range of sights to from funerary monument to funerary visit. Start and finishing point are the bridge monument, view the famous Igel column over the Saar in Konz. The programme inclu- (UNESCO World Heritage Site), funerary des such attractions as the historical village temples and gardens, burial mounds and of Kanzem (where Günther Jauch has his vi- tombstones. At the end the priceless relief neyard), the listed buildings in Wawern, the of a gladiator and a temple to the god “Arbustum – Wine in the Woods” project in Mercury await you. Start and finishing point Ayl, Saarburg with its historical town centre, are the Kaiserthermen (Imperial baths) in Kastel-Staadt with its oppidum and cult the- Trier. The route leads through quite idyllic atre, the chapel of St Michael in Taben-Rodt, countryside with many views of the Mosel. the Widdertshäuschen (Gnomes’ House)

The Roman Hochwald We visit the Celts, Romans and their descen- ➔ Tips tour by car dents in the Saar-Hunsrück Nature Park. You are certainly recommended to pack your walking boots as Wareswald vicus and Tour of sights in the North Eifel near Serrig and the imperial palace in Konz. Otzenhausen Celtic hillfort are both situated on premium circular paths! What is more, This day trip takes you to Roman sanctua- Mosel tour Trier – Bernkastel-Kues ries for the Matronae and monuments that the Celtic hillfort and the museum in Her- We follow the Roman wine route, visit villas bear witness to ancient technology: a lime meskeil are connected by the Saar-Hunsrück as well as a Roman aqueduct, travel on the kiln, two stone quarries and an aqueduct. Trail. Of course, you can also reach all of Roman boat Stella Noviomagi, view wineries In 2009 archaeologists from the University the sights by car. How about finishing the and climb up to the ruins of Landshut castle of Cologne discovered a Roman settlement day with Roman inspired wellness in the in Bernkastel-Kues where spectacular disco- (vicus) with houses, workshops and late Ro- Schaumberg adventure baths in Tholey? veries have been made: in June 2012, during man fortifications in Nettersheim. The vicus routine work on the outermost fortification Roman luxury in Saarland lies directly on the Roman road from Colo- of the castle (the outer bailey), the unusu- gne to Trier (“Agrippa Strasse”) in the Urft A day trip to Saarland to visit the splendid ally massive remains of a Roman fort were valley. The results of the new excavations gladiator mosaics at Nennig Roman villa, found. Archaeologists date the remains, are being incorporated into the conception the impressive reconstructed Roman villa which were incorporated into the medieval for the “Archaeological Landscape Park Net- in Borg Roman Villa Archaeological Park, structure, to the late 4th/early 5th centu- tersheim” (to be opened early in 2014). But Pachten Museum with the Roman park, and ry. The climb up to the excavation takes already the archaeological excavations and on to Sudelfels temple and spring or the about 30 minutes, or else you can take the activities are worth a visit. When visiting Emilianusstollen (visits only possible when Landshut Castle express (May – October). Nettersheim, a walk to “Grüner Putz”, the a special guided tour is booked). The effort is rewarded with a fantastic view southernmost catchment spring for the Eifel into the Mosel valley. Finally we stroll gently Excursion to Roman villages water conduit to Cologne, is a must. Tip: through the old town centre of Bernkastel Any Roman traveller who was on the road on Sundays from April to October a Roman with its numerous narrow cobblestone found everything they needed in Roman coach is on the road in Nettersheim from 11 alleys. roadside settlements (vicus): stables, am to 4 pm. accommodation, workshops and temples. Behind the Limes Day trip Trier-Rom(e) In Schwarzenacker Roman Museum in We are curious as to what the region behind Indeed! From Trier you can travel by car to Homburg we view a reconstructed vicus the Rhine frontier was like, and how the Rome and back in one day. And all of that and then travel on to the European Culture Romans lived and died here. For this reason in the footsteps of the Romans. You start Park Bleisbruck-Reinheim, where there we embark on a deliberate day trip to the at the famous Porta Nigra, visit the “Pütz- is not only a Roman settlement, but also monuments of the Mosel terrace and the löcher” Roman copper mines, the remains the reconstructed grave of the Princess of neighbouring heights of the highlands. The of the Hermenweiher decorative pool in Reinheim. From May to October we can stop starting point is the Ehrenbreitstein fort with Welschbillig, the Roman fort in Bitburg, to eat here. Afterwards the trip carries on its view of the Deutsche Eck. Otrang Roman villa near Fließem, the to Saarbrücken to the Museum for Pre- and excavated burial mound near Strotzbüsch, Protohistory, where priceless finds are on the Vulkanhaus volcanic display. museum in Strohn and then stop off in Rom(e). Further information at www.strassen-der-roemer.eu

P age 59 More information on the internet at www.strassen-der-roemer.eu WE ARE HAPPY TO HELP YOU

Mosel-Saar, Eifel, Hunsrück, Mosellandtouristik GmbH Saarland and Luxembourg Mosel Kordelweg 1 are popular holiday regions and 54470 Bernkastel-Kues have much to offer. Because we Tel. +49 (0)6531/97330 know the region so well we can Fax +49 (0)6531/973333 give you many tips and recom- [email protected] mendations when you plan your Eifel Tourismus GmbH trip. If you want we can even sug- Kalvarienbergstraße 1 gest your own personal itinerary. 54595 Prüm Call us, or send us an email with Tel. +49 (0)6551/96560 details of what you require. We’ll Fax +49 (0)6551/965696 get straight back to you. [email protected] Hunsrück-Touristik GmbH Gebäude 663 55483 Hahn-Flughafen Tel. +49 (0)6543/507700 Fax +49 (0)6543/507709 [email protected] Tourismus Zentrale Saarland GmbH Franz-Josef-Röder-Straße 17 66119 Saarbrücken Tel. +49 (0)681/927200 Fax +49 (0)681/9272040 [email protected] Office Régional du Tourisme Région Moselle Luxembourgeoise 115, route du Vin L-5416 Ehnen Tél. (+352) 26747874 Fax (+352) 26747894 www.region-moselle.lu

EUROPEAN UNION States Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland, des Saarlandes, das Ministerium European Agricultural Fund for Nordrhein-Westfalen and the für Klimaschutz, Umwelt, Landwirt- Rural Development: Here Europe is Grand Duchy of Luxembourg as schaft, Natur- und Verbraucher- investing in the rural economy. represented by the Ministerium für schutz Nordrhein- Westfalen, and This publication was produced as Umwelt, Landwirtschaft, Ernäh- the Ministère de l'Agriculture, de la part of the PAUL development rung, Weinbau und Forsten Viticulture et du Développement programme with the support of the Rheinland-Pfalz, the Ministerium rural of the Grand Duchy of Luxem- European Union and the Federal für Wirtschaft und Wissenschaft bourg.