Römermuseum Schwarzenacker (Schwarzenacker Roman Museum) is an archaeological open-air museum in Schwarzenacker, a district of

Homburg, Saarland Homburg (; , ; ) is a town in Saarland, Germany and the administrative seat of the Saarpfalz district. With a population of 43,029 inhabitants (2022), it is the third largest town in the state. The city offers over 30,000 workplaces. The medica ...

, Germany. The museum was constructed by archaeologist Alfonso Kolling, who also led the archaeological excavations at the site. Current director is Klaus Kell.

Exhibits

The Museum shows the remains of a Roman ''

vicus In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (plural ) designated a village within a rural area () or the neighbourhood of a larger settlement. During the Republican era, the four of the city of Rome were subdivided into . In the 1st century BC, Augustus ...

'' (country town) of approximately 2000 inhabitants which existed from the time of the birth of Christ until its destruction by the

Alemanni The Alemanni or Alamanni were a confederation of Germanic peoples, Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River during the first millennium. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Roman emperor Caracalla of 213 CE ...

in 275 A.D. Visitors can view the excavated buildings, grounds, roads and culverts. In the adjoining 18th century villa and the reconstructed houses of the vicus important finds from the everyday life of the Roman population are exhibited, found either at the settlement itself or in the surrounding area. At the front steps of the villa stand life-size replicas of Roman equestrian statues which were discovered in 1887 in nearby Breitfurt. The originals stood for many years at the entrance of the Historical Museum of the Palatinate in

Speyer Speyer (, older spelling ; ; ), historically known in English as Spires, is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in the western part of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the r ...

, but they were removed and placed in the courtyard of the museum under a canopy, since they were heavily weathered due to environmental factors.

Villa

The early 18th Century (c. 1725) villa was designed by

Jonas Erikson Sundahl Jonas Erikson Sundahl (1678-1762) was a Swedish-born architect who spent most of his working life at and around Zweibrücken in the German Palatinate. Most of his designs were in the then-modern Baroque style. Biography Sundahl's exact date of b ...

. Besides the Roman exhibits, the villa also contains paintings by

Johann Christian von Mannlich Johann, typically a male given name, is the German form of ''Iohannes'', which is the Latin form of the Greek name ''Iōánnēs'' (), itself derived from Hebrew name '' Yochanan'' () in turn from its extended form (), meaning "Yahweh is Gracious" ...

and other period painters of the region. The villa has a landscaped garden in the

Baroque style The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from the early 17th century until the 1750s. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (i ...

, which was created following the excavation of the vicus.

External links

Official site
Museums in Saarland Roman sites in Germany History of Saarland {{Saarland-struct-stub