Irgenhausen Castrum is a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

Irgenhausen Irgenhausen is a village ( Aussenwacht) of the municipality of Pfäffikon in the canton of Zurich in Switzerland. Geography Irgenhausen is located in the district of Pfäffikon in the Zürcher Oberland on the eastern shore of the Pfäffike ...

, situated on

Pfäffikersee Pfäffikersee (or ''Lake Pfäffikon'') is a lake in the canton of Zürich, Switzerland, near the town of Pfäffikon. It is 2.5 km long and 1.3 km wide at the middle. The lake was created in the last ice age when a moraine blocked off the ...

lake shore in Switzerland. It was a square fort, measuring in square, with four corner towers and three additional towers. The remains of a stone wall in the interior were probably a

spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneoth ...

Geography

The castrum is situated on the ''Bürglen'' hill in

, a village of the municipality of Pfäffikon in the

canton of Zürich The canton of Zürich (german: Kanton Zürich ; rm, Chantun Turitg; french: Canton de Zurich; it, Canton Zurigo) is a Swiss canton in the northeastern part of the country. With a population of (as of ), it is the most populous canton in the ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. ''Bürglen'' (

Swiss German Swiss German (Standard German: , gsw, Schwiizerdütsch, Schwyzerdütsch, Schwiizertüütsch, Schwizertitsch Mundart,Because of the many different dialects, and because there is no defined orthography for any of them, many different spelling ...

: "small castle") is a high

drumlin A drumlin, from the Irish word ''droimnín'' ("littlest ridge"), first recorded in 1833, in the classical sense is an elongated hill in the shape of an inverted spoon or half-buried egg formed by glacial ice acting on underlying unconsolidated ...

, from the eastern shore of

, situated between Pfäffikon and

Kempten Kempten (, (Swabian German: )) is the largest Town#Germany, town of Allgäu, in Swabia (Bavaria), Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. The population was about 68,000 in 2016. The area was possibly settled originally by Celts, but was later taken over by th ...

, the site of another Roman settlement nearby.

History

In the

Roman era In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

, along Pfäffikersee there was a

Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

from

Centum Prata Centum Prata is the name of a Roman '' vicus'', whose remains are located on the eastern Zürichsee lakeshore in Kempraten, a locality of the municipality Rapperswil-Jona in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Centum Prata is the most impor ...

(

Kempraten Kempraten-Lenggis is a village (''Kirchdorf'') within the municipality of Rapperswil-Jona, ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of See-Gaster in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. The remains of the Gallo-Roman settlement '' Centum Prata'' are on ...

) on Obersee–

Lake Zürich __NOTOC__ Lake Zurich ( Swiss German/Alemannic: ''Zürisee''; German: ''Zürichsee''; rm, Lai da Turitg) is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zürich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or ''Zürichsee'' can be used to ...

via

Vitudurum Vitudurum (sometimes Vitodorum) is the name of a Roman ''vicus'', those remains are located in Oberwinterthur, a locality of the municipality of Winterthur in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. Geography The majority of the remains of com ...

(

Oberwinterthur Oberwinterthur is a district in the Swiss city of Winterthur. It is district number 2. The district comprises the quarters Talacker, Guggenbühl, Zinzikon, Reutlingen, Stadel, Grüze, Hegmatten and Hegi. Oberwinterthur was formerly a munic ...

) to Tasgetium (

Eschenz Eschenz is a municipality in Frauenfeld District in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland. History The prehistoric shore village on ''Werd Island'' and in the ''Seeäckern'' area (northeast of Eschenz) are rich archeological sites that have cont ...

) on the Rhine. To secure this important transport route, the

castrum In the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a po ...

was built. The native name of the fort is unknown;

was mentioned in AD 811 as ''Camputuna sive Irincheshusa'', so maybe the castrum's name was ''Cambodunum'', the Roman name of the neighboring village of

. In 1865,

Jakob Messikommer Jakob Messikommer (18 August 1828 – 23 August 1917) was a Swiss archaeologist who among others discovered and researched the UNESCO serial site Wetzikon–Robenhausen. Bibliography Personal life Born in the hamlet of ''Stegen'' in Wetzik ...

succeeded the dating of finds at Irgenhausen, because of his experience in the dating of peat and concurrent findings at the Irgenhausen Castrum. In 1897, stones of the ruined building (believed at the time to be those of a medieval castle) were used for the construction of a factory nearby; the dilapidation was stopped by the Antiquarische Gesellschaft in Zürich in order to start archaeological investigations, carried out between 1898 and 1908, and to preserve the walls. The castrum was set under federal protection as "Kastell Irgenhausen" in 1909.

Walter Mittelholzer Walter Mittelholzer (2 April 1894 – 9 May 1937) was a Swiss aviation pioneer. He was active as a pilot, photographer, travel writer, as well as of the first aviation entrepreneurs. Life Born on 2 April 1894 in St. Gallen as the son of a baker ...

made an aerial exploration of the fort and the surrounding area, whereupon in the closer environment Roman ''

villae rusticae Villa rustica () was the term used by the ancient Romans to denote a farmhouse or villa set in the countryside and with an agricultural section, which applies to the vast majority of Roman villas. In some cases they were at the centre of a large ...

'', among them one in

, were localized and excavated. In 1957, the land and the castle were sold to the community of Pfäffikon.

Architecture

For the dating of the fort there are two theories: the first assumes that the fort was built at the time of the Emperor

Diocletian Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...

around AD 294–295. The other theory, based on the Roman coins found inside the castrum, dated the construction from 364 to 375, in the era of the Emperor

Valentinian II Valentinian II ( la, Valentinianus; 37115 May 392) was a Roman emperor in the western part of the Roman empire between AD 375 and 392. He was at first junior co-ruler of his brother, was then sidelined by a usurper, and only after 388 sole rule ...

. As early as AD 400 the castrum was evacuated and destroyed by

Alamanni The Alemanni or Alamanni, were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Caracalla of 213, the Alemanni captured the in 260, and later expanded into pres ...

invaders. The excavations restored a high foundation wall that has an almost square outline of x , and thus an area of only 0.366 hectares. The fort had four corner towers ( x ), a gate tower on the southeast side and three low towers on the north, west and south front (), and an approximately strong enclosing wall. The materials used by the Roman soldiers derived from glacial deposits, furthermore, there is a mixture of sernifit from Glarus,

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

and conglomerate. The walls of the towers measure between up to . The main access was from the south through the gate in the middle of the eastern front. The other three sides hide small side entrances. In addition to the remains of the towers and surrounding wall, there were found the remains of stone interior buildings: a three-roomed building was seen as a

. Another building with three rooms has been interpreted as ''principia'', ( "primary buildings"), the headquarters of the fort. At the southern corner tower a

hypocaust A hypocaust ( la, hypocaustum) is a system of central heating in a building that produces and circulates hot air below the floor of a room, and may also warm the walls with a series of pipes through which the hot air passes. This air can warm th ...

system of an older

villa rustica Villa rustica () was the term used by the ancient Romans to denote a farmhouse or villa set in the countryside and with an agricultural section, which applies to the vast majority of Roman villas. In some cases they were at the centre of a large ...

from the 1st to the 3rd century was excavated. The other buildings were made of wood and therefore cannot be individually identified. However, some military barracks, a ''

horreum A ''horreum'' (plural: ''horrea'') was a type of public warehouse used during the ancient Roman period. Although the Latin term is often used to refer to granaries, Roman ''horrea'' were used to store many other types of consumables; the giant Hor ...

'' and a ''

praetorium The Latin term (also and ) originally identified the tent of a general within a Roman castrum (encampment), and derived from the title praetor, which identified a Roman magistrate.Smith, William. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 2 ed., ...

'' was probably built inside the fort. In the middle of the hill there was a sunken room. Most of the relics found inside the fort date from the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD and are thought to be relics of the ''villa rustica'' on whose ruins the fort was built. At the present time, a red ribbon in the wall shows where the Roman wall ends and the restored wall begins.

Gallery

File:Irgenhausen castrum IMG 3416.jpg, Gate area File:Irgenhausen castrum IMG 3408.jpg, Hill plateau inside the fort,

Lake Pfäffikon A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

in the background File:Irgenhausen castrum (W) IMG 3379.jpg, West tower File:Irgenhausen castrum IMG 3405.jpg, The red ribbon separates the original Roman tower wall from the restored wall

Cultural heritage

The building is listed in the

Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance #REDIRECT Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance {{R from other capitalisation ...

as a ''Class B'' object of regional importance.

Literature

* Beat Horisberger, Bettina Hedinger, Florian Hoek, Roger Büsser: ''Römisches Landleben im Zürcher Oberland''. Huber + Co. AG, Frauenfeld 2007. * Antiquarische Gesellschaft Zürich: ''Zeitreise: Irgenhausen. Archäologische Entdeckungen rund um das römische Kastell Pfäffikon Irgenhausen: von der Jungsteinzeit bis zu den Ausgrabungen vor hundert Jahren''. Zürcher Oberland Buchverlag, Wetzikon 1999.

References

External links

*
''Römerzeit'' on ''Heimatmuseum Pfäffikon'' website

{{Authority control Buildings and structures completed in the 4th century Castles in the canton of Zürich Tourist attractions in the canton of Zürich Cultural property of regional significance in the canton of Zürich Roman fortifications in Raetia Pfäffikersee Roman legionary fortresses in Switzerland Pfäffikon, Zürich 4th-century fortifications