document legion camp wall

Large sections of the wall of the Roman legionary camp in Regensburg's old town have been preserved in three places: the southeast corner at Ernst-Reuter-Platz and the northeast corner at Hunnenplatz, as well as a large piece of the east side in the parking garage at Dachauplatz. This is also the location of the information center for the "document Legionslagermauer" consisting of the three sections.

The inscription on the camp gate, which can be seen in the Historical Museum, describes the completion of the Roman fort in today's old town of Regensburg as a camp for the 3rd Italic Legion in 179 AD under Emperor Marcus Aurelius and his co-regent Commodus. Originally 2 km long, the fort was built on a rectangular base and had a front made of mighty large ashlars, which survived the withdrawal of the Romans in the 5th century. The legionary camp wall surrounded the nucleus of the medieval city with the residence of the Bavarian dukes and the Carolingian kings. While the Roman ashlar wall in the west lost its importance with the first expansion of the city around 920, it was part of the city wall in the east for another 400 years and remained so in the south and southeast even into the 19th century.

Due to overbuilding and backfilling of the moat, large sections of the Roman fortification wall have been preserved in a size that is unique in Germany. The uncovering of the northeast corner in 1905, the southeast corner in 1955 and 1961, and a long section of the wall on the east side during the construction of the parking garage at Dachauplatz in 1971 brought to light impressive sections that have now been restored and impressively staged. Together they constitute the freely accessible "document Legionslagermauer".

While the southeast corner with the wall sections adjoining to the west and north is presented as an accessible monument zone thanks to a large-format information board, new pathways and special lighting, the Dachauplatz parking garage along the Roman Wall has been successfully closed off from motor traffic and effectively staged to create an area that is presented as a museum. The information center in the basement with film sequences on the significance and history of the Roman Wall on a monitor wall and a single screen as well as a wall-filling visualization of the perspective along the eastern legionary camp wall in Roman times together with the detailed signage on the ground floor form the core of the "document Legionslagermauer".