Sanctuary of Elfrath
The sanctuary of Elfrath is a Roman temple complex that was founded in the first century AD. Large parts of it were excavated in 1988 under the direction of Christoph Reichmann . The temple is about 5 km from ancient Gelduba . The complex consists of a 95 × 127 large area that was delimited by a moat. In the center of the temenos was a tree. In the middle of the second century AD, an Italian podium temple was erected next to the tree , which is about 10.40 × 16.40 m in size. The temple area was expanded to 135 × 170 m. In front of the temple entrance on the east side there was an altar, a little south there was a fountain. Some distance from the actual temple there were bread ovens. The tree continued to stand in the second century. Towards the end of the third century, the temple was destroyed and never returned to service.
During the excavations, only the foundations of the temple were found that were preserved after the excavation and can be viewed today. The rising masonry consisted of tuff and bricks. The excavator interprets the inscription on a fragmentary Weihaltar as evidence that Hercules Deusoniensis was worshiped here . The interior of the temple was decorated with high quality wall paintings. The base zone was probably decorated with imitation marble. The main zone of the wall showed life-size figures and architecture, the latter perhaps as a frame for the figures. In the immediate vicinity of the temple no remains of an ancient settlement or individual residential buildings (for the temple staff) could be located.
Web links
literature
- Christoph Reichmann: A new sanctuary in Krefeld-Elfrath. In: Archäologie im Rheinland 1988, pp. 72–77.
- Christoph Reichmann: The sanctuary in Krefeld-Elfrath . In: The home. Volume 62, 1991, pp. 141-161 ( PDF ).
- Michael Cell: The Roman wall and ceiling paintings in Gelduba. Gelsenkirchen / Schwelm 2006, ISBN 978-3-89972-700-5 , pp. 93-107 ( online ).
Coordinates: 51 ° 22 ′ 2.9 " N , 6 ° 36 ′ 41.2" E