Your tour of Roman-era Germany

As Germany's oldest city, Trier began as a metropolis of the Roman Empire and enjoyed prosperous medieval and Renaissance eras as well. Today the city's glorious history can be witnessed at every step on a stroll through the bustling Old Quarter.

The ancient city's most famous relic is the Porta Nigra, the beautifully preserved fortified gate from the great age when the city was known as Augusta Treverorum. Trier contains the largest collection of ancient Roman buildings outside of Rome itself, all concentrated in a centralized and pedestrian- friendly area.

Come gaze in wonder at the size and majesty of the Konstantin Basilika (Constantine Basilica) that was built to express the  magnificence and might of the emperor. It was the throne room of Emperor Constantine in the early 4th century, and it is the largest surviving unsupported room of antiquity. Behind the medieval facades of the "Dom" (Cathedral), architectural styles from the 4th through 18th centuries can be seen. It had been a Constantinian Palace, torn down after Constantine?s last visit to Trier and replaced by the largest Christian church in antiquity. Today, sections of the original walls and architectural features can still be seen. Perhaps one of Trier?s most charming areas is its former Domstadt (Cathedral City), a mostly intact medieval district. A warren of narrow alleys runs between medieval houses in this former city-within-a-city.

Explore the expansive ruins of the Kaiserthermen (Imperial Baths), remodeled during the 4th century as a barracks for more than 1,000 soldiers. And in the Amphitheater, sit in the same terraced seats occupied by fans cheering for gladiator and animal fights some 2,000 years ago. Be sure to visit the Rheinisches Landesmuseum (State Museum), an outstanding archaeological museum with Germany's most extensive Roman collection.

While the stunning ancient architecture is the city's strongest draw, travelers should also take in buildings like the baroque St. Paulinkirche (St. Paulin's Church) and the Liebfrauenkirche (Church of Our Beloved Lady), Germany's oldest Gothic church. Trier's expansive Kurfürstliche Palais (Electoral Palace) built as a "wing" to the "Basilika", is considered one of the finest examples of Rococo style in Germany, and its Baroque Palastgarten (Palace Gardens) are a peaceful green oasis in the middle of the city. Another popular attraction is the Karl Marx Haus (Karl Marx House) birthplace and museum.

The gate dates back to a time (about A.D. 180) when the Romans often erected public buildings of huge stone blocks (here, the biggest weigh up to six metric tons).

The slabs were cut by bronze saws powered by mill wheels (some cutting traces are still visible) and put together without mortar. Instead, two stones each were held together horizontally by iron clamps whose bent ends were embedded in corresponding holes by molten lead. One clamp is visible inside the gate near the eastern spiral staircase; rust traces can be seen in many holes on the outside because in the Middle Ages people chiseled these holes to retrieve the metal for recycling.

The stone blocks were spared from recycling because of the Greek monk Simeon, who had himself walled up in the eastern tower as a hermit in 1028. After his death in 1034/5, he was buried inside the gate and made a saint. In his honor, two churches were built into the gate (torn down 1804-1819). The upper story of the eastern tower was razed - the only real damage to the stone gate, whose name, "Black Gate", is medieval and goes back to the black pollution patina on the gray sandstone. Inside, traces of the double church, Roman stone masons' marks, and date inscriptions are visible.

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In the heart of the city, the present "Dom" (Cathedral) stands on top of a former Constantinian Palace, later the largest Christian church in Antiquity.

The present Cathedral stands on top of a former Constantinian Palace. After Constantine's last visit to Trier in A.D. 328/9, the palace was leveled in 330 and replaced by the largest Christian church in Antiquity, about four times as big as the present-day church and covering the area of the "Dom" and "Liebfrauenkirche" (Cathedral and the Church of Our Beloved Lady), the "Domplatz" (Cathedral Square), the adjoining garden, and the houses almost up to the "Hauptmarkt" (Main Market).

Today's Cathedral still contains a Roman central section with the original walls rising up to a height of 26 m (86 ft). The huge fragment of a granite column next to the entrance to the Cathedral is another indication of the Roman origin of the building. After destructions in the 5th and 9th centuries, the remaining nucleus was enlarged by Romanesque additions - today, the Cathedral, with its three crypts, its cloister, "Domschatzkammer" (Cathedral Treasure Chamber), and "Heilig Rock Kapelle" (Holy Robe Chapel), displays architecture and artwork from more than 1650 years.

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Beyond the medieval city wall lies the Roman Amphitheater. Cruel games with animal and gladiator combats were conducted here popular public entertainment.

When you enter the premises you walk through the ruins of the entrance gate. This was used as a quarry in the Middle Ages. The arena itself is surrounded by a protecting wall with openings for animal cages. The arena, built in the 2nd century A.D. for cruel games with gladiators and animals, had a seating capacity of about 20,000. With its crystal-clear acoustics, the Amphitheater serves as a venue for the Antiquity Festival and is used today for occasional open-air concerts.

Underneath the arena is a vast cellar where, in Roman times, prisoners sentenced to death were kept alongside exotic wild animals like African lions or Asian tigers. A movable platform took them up to the arena for the final show-down.

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The so-called "Basilika" (Basilica), Constantine's throne room, is the largest surviving single-room structure from Roman times.

The Romans wanted the architecture to express the magnificence and might of the emperor. The size is amazing even by today's standards: 27 m (90 ft) wide, 33 m (108 ft) high, and 67 m (220 ft) long - with an adjoining hall outside even 75 m (250 ft). This depth is magnified by an optical illusion - both the windows of the apse as well as the niches underneath become progressively smaller towards the middle, thus enhancing the impression of length.

The Roman building was embellished by colorful marble inlay, mosaics, and statues and was made comfortable by a hollow-floor heating system, but all this splendor and technology were destroyed (in the 5th century) by the Germanic Franks, who built a settlement inside the roofless ruin.

Later on, the archbishop used it as his administrative center and it was enlarged by three palace wings after 1614. Since the middle of the 19th century, it has been used as the first and oldest Protestant church in Catholic Trier with a splendid organ answered by a seven-second echo.

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The "Kurfürstliches Palais" (Electoral Palace) directly next to the "Basilika" (Basilica) is considered one of the most beautiful rococo palaces in the world.

Among many other elements, a princely staircase in the present seat of the District Administration reveals the splendor of the Electors and Archbishops. In 1615, Elector Lothar von Metternich had the present north and east wings built; the west and south wings were constructed under Philipp Christoph von Soetern.

The structure was finally finished by Carl Caspar von der Leyen. The especially beautiful south wing, which can be admired from the "Palastgarten" (Palace Gardens), was commissioned by Archbishop Johann Philipp von Walderdorff in1756 and designed by Johannes Seiz. The sculptures were crafted by Ferdinand Tietz. The magnificent rococo staircase in the south wing, also a creation by the artists Seiz and Tietz, is particularly worth seeing.

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A crown jewel of garden architecture lies in the heart of the city: the "Palastgarten" (Palace Gardens). Baroque garden artistry is framed by exquisite examples from art and history: an enchanting park in which one can experience both the past in stone and the present in blossoms.

A section of the garden corresponds to the style based on ancient Greco-Roman gardens. Along with classical literature and the fine arts, garden artistry crossed the Alps in the 16th century and also found a new home in Germany. The singularity of Italian gardening artistry is the stark stylistic development and the wealth of artistic thought contained within which makes each new creation an individual work of art.

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Going to the baths was an important part of Roman life: Over 1600 years ago, the Romans built one of the grandest and most impressive baths in the world: the "Kaiserhermen" (Imperial Baths). Today you can visit this gigantic bathing facility: go back in time to the Roman era, descend into the subterranean labyrinth and get a feel for history!

People bathed naked (not always separately), could engage in sports, sit in cold and hot baths, swim, get a massage, have the body hair removed by tweezers or wax, and be cleaned with the help of scrapers, pumice stone, or fermented urine. They could relax, gamble, do business, go to the hairdresser's, libraries, reciting rooms, or pubs.

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The houses and streets surrounding the "Dom" (Cathedral) are called the "Domstadt" (Cathedral City). This area is characterized by its narrow lanes between the tall curia houses of the Cathedral canons.

The street fronts are characterized by high walls built of recycled Roman material, ornamented gates, coats of arms, Latin inscriptions and structures from eight centuries.

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In 1987, excavations for an underground parking garage brought to light the remains of a first-century bath buried beneath air-raid shelters from the Second World War.

The two hot-water baths, a surprisingly well-preserved cold-water bath, hollow-floor heating systems, sewer canals, and massive walls on deep foundations are accessible as a combination of excavations and museum.

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The "Barbarathermen" (Barbara Baths) were built in the 2nd century as what was then the largest Roman baths. Although only one third of the original facility has been excavated, a tour of the passageways takes a surprisingly long time.

The extensive ruins were used as a castle in the Middle Ages, then torn down and recycled as building material until the remains were used for constructing the Jesuit College in 1610.

Only the foundations and the subterranean service tunnels have survived, but the technical details of the sewer systems, the furnaces, the pools, and the heating system can be studied better than in the other two baths.

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The only apostle's grave north of the Alps is to be found in the Benedictine Abbey in the southern section of the city. Trier's first bishops were buried there in the Roman cemetery.

According to an inscription in St. Matthias, the first two Trier bishops, Eucharius and Valerius, were sent to Trier in A.D. 50 by none other than St. Peter himself, thereby placing Trier's bishop's see in direct apostolic succession.

The two clerics actually lived in the late third century and were buried in the Roman cemetery on Trier's south side. Today the coffins rest in the crypt of the present parish (Benedictine) abbey church dating from 1148.

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The Baroque jewel in the Rhineland was erected from 1734 till 1751 according to plans by Balthasar Neumann.

The St. Paulinskirche" (St. Paulin's Church), a former collegiate church, has been a parish church since 1804. A single-aisled baroque-rococo church, begun in 1734 and built to plans by Johannes Seitz and Balthasar Neumann, it boasts of magnificent ceiling paintings done in 1743 with four scenes with cross motifs and two scenes from the life of Paulinus, the Trier bishop exiled in 353.

The canopied Marian (Immaculata) altar was sculpted by Ferdinand Tietz, and the ceiling paintings are by Christoph Thomas Scheffler. The restored organ is from 1756. The burial altar of Paulinus is visible in the crypt, as are other Roman bishops' graves.

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