LWL Roman Museum Haltern am See
 Roman museum with stylized “leather tents” as light domes, September 2009 |
|
| Data | |
|---|---|
| place | Haltern am See |
| architect | Knut Lohrer |
| opening | 1993 |
| Number of visitors (annually) | 44,000 |
| operator | |
| management | |
| Website | |
| ISIL | DE-MUS-058717 |
In the LWL Roman Museum in Haltern am See , the most important finds from all Roman camps along the Lippe (Lippia) are exhibited. The Roman camp Haltern was one of the most important bases of the Roman Empire during the campaigns in Germania magna . At the beginning of the 1st century AD, more legionaries were stationed here than anywhere else in the Roman Empire.
History of the museum
In 1896, the Antiquities Commission for Westphalia was founded in Münster, which, under the direction of Carl Schuchhardt , dealt intensively with the history of the Roman settlement in Westphalia-Lippe. Starting from the base in Xanten on the Rhine, they had used the Lippe as an important transport route and set up camps along the river ( Holsterhausen , Haltern, Beckinghausen, Oberaden , Anreppen ).
In the summer of 1899 exploratory excavations took place for the first time on Annaberg in Haltern ; the Roman fort Aliso was assumed there . After the first discoveries, the excavations were intensified under the direction of the archaeologist Friedrich Koepp , so that in the following years the now known Roman camp Haltern could be uncovered. As early as January 1, 1900, the first finds were exhibited in the old Rector's School in Haltern under the direction of the Association for History and Archeology. With the support of Emperor Wilhelm II , who donated 10,000 Reichsmarks, the first Roman-Germanic Museum was built in Haltern on Kärntner Platz and opened in 1907.
The new Roman Museum
During the Second World War , the museum was destroyed by bombs. Today's Roman Museum was built in 1993 by the Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe (LWL) on the B 58 on the site of the former Roman military camp. The relatively flat architecture of the building is modeled on a Roman tent camp with its glass "tent tips" of the roof structure. At the entrance of the museum you can see a piece of the historical enclosure, a reconstructed earth wall with the pointed ditch in front, which served as a security for the Roman camp at that time.
The museum brings the 28-year history of the Romans in Westphalia to life on an exhibition area of around 1000 square meters. It is not claimed that the findings in Haltern are to be interpreted with certainty as Aliso , but there is much to suggest.
Visitors can wander through the museum with the heavy baggage of a soldier or try to scratch words in the wax of a writing board with a stylus . In a reconstructed leather tent, which was once accommodation for six to eight legionnaires , you can see a "Tagesschau" from the year AD 4, which informs about the "current" events in Rome and Germania. You learn something about the legionnaires' financial worries over 2000 years ago and about the Varus Battle .
Finds illustrate the possibilities of Roman handicrafts in military life. The importance of the river Lippe as a transport route for supplying the legions becomes clear, on which the distant camps could be supplied by barge, and at the same time later also served trade.
In the museum, all of the original lettering has been translated and the finds are explained. The exhibits give an overview of almost all areas of the daily life of the legionaries. In connection with images, texts and models, the objects shown give a vivid picture of the time. Roman dishes are also served in the cafeteria upon reservation.
The exhibition area has been redesigned since April 2010, with around 15,000 Playmobil legionaries representing the three Roman legions that were defeated in the Varus Battle in AD 9.
At the end of June 2016, the Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe opened the LWL Roman construction site Aliso next to the museum : Visitors can view a true-to-original reconstruction of the west gate of the former Roman main camp as well as a wood-earth wall, defense towers and upstream pointed ditches. An inclusive ramp enables access to the system.
The head of the museum is the archaeologist Josef Mühlenbrock , and Renate Wiechers is in charge of museum education.
The museum has been run by the Association of Friends and Supporters of the Westphalian Roman Museum Haltern e. V. supports. The association has more than 220 members.
Regular chamber concerts also take place in the museum, which are organized by the Haltern Kulturstiftung Masthoff .
Themed exhibitions
The last hours of Herculaneum
From May 21 to August 14, 2005, the museum showed the special exhibition The Last Hours of Herculaneum . For the first time, over 170 exhibits, which thematize the fall of the city on the Gulf of Naples in AD 79, were on view in Germany. So z. B. Skeletons, charred food, wall paintings, sculptures. Almost 130,000 visitors saw the exhibition, which could then also be seen in Berlin and Bremen .
Luxury and decadence
On August 16, 2007, the special exhibition Luxury and Decadence was opened in the Roman Museum and could be seen here until November 25, 2007. The exhibition showed the carefree Roman life of the upper class on the Gulf of Naples using many original exhibits from the National Archaeological Museum of Naples and Pompeii . The exhibition was organized jointly with the Focke Museum Bremen, the Museum Het Valkhof in Nijmegen and the Museum Archäologische Staatssammlung München and was also shown in Bremen, Nijmegen and Munich .
imperium
As part of the 2000 Years of Varus Battle commemorative year , the Varus Battle and the Roman era at that time were thematized through three exhibitions ( Empire , Conflict , Myth ) at the Kalkriese , Detmold and Haltern locations . In Haltern am See, the themed exhibition Imperium took place in the Roman Museum from May 16, 2009 to October 11, 2009, as well as a large special exhibition in the Seestadthalle (multi-purpose hall), which was organized for this occasion under the direction of Barbara Hähnel-Bökens (architect ) had been converted into a museum. Over 300 exhibits, mostly on loan from Italian museums, were presented in an artistically and aesthetically appealing way in themed rooms and presented Roman history up to the time of Augustus . 15,000 Playmobil Roman soldiers marched through the exhibition in the Roman Museum. A photomontage about the likely appearance of the Varus , which was made by the State Criminal Police Office in Düsseldorf on the basis of a portrait on a coin, attracted particular attention . The camps in Waldgirmes and Haltern am See were also recreated in moving images using computer animation .
Seestadthalle
Family of Augustus
Varus phantom image
literature
- Read. Explore. Understand. LWL Roman Museum in Haltern am See. Text and editing by Rudolf Aßkamp , Susanne Birker, Kathrin Jaschke and Renate Wiechers. Haltern am See 2008, ISBN 978-3-9810469-5-3 .
Web links
- Literature from and about LWL-Römermuseum Haltern am See in the catalog of the German National Library
- Museum website
- Description of the Herculaneum exhibition
- Description of the exhibition Luxury and Decadence
- Description of the exhibition Imperium
- Friends and supporters of the Westphalian Roman Museum Haltern am See
- Pictures of the museum in the picture archive of the LWL media center for Westphalia
Individual evidence
- ↑ Michael Menzebach: 44,000 guests visited the Roman Museum in 2017. Local compass . December 27, 2017, accessed June 8, 2018.
Coordinates: 51 ° 44 ′ 22.1 ″ N , 7 ° 10 ′ 13.9 ″ E