Palatiolum

The Palatiolum ( Latin diminutive of palace ) is a monumental late antique building in Trier - Pfalzel in Rhineland-Palatinate . Major parts of the complex, which probably dates from the 4th century AD, were integrated into later buildings, so that the remains of the palatiolum were sometimes referred to as the oldest stone building in Germany.

Collegiate church

Roman arched windows in the transept of the collegiate church.

Roman masonry on the south side of the collegiate church.

Roman masonry on the facade of the sextonry.

View of Merian 1646

location

The remains of the Palatiolum are in the center of Trier-Pfalzel, which lies above a longer arch of the Moselle on a flood-free ridge. The ancient Augusta Treverorum was about 5 km as the crow flies. Several arches of the former representative palace front can be seen there, especially in the facade of the so-called sexton house and the church of St. Maria and St. Martin.

history

Details of the building fabric and a few archaeological finds suggest that it was built around 350 AD. A subsequently changed mosaic in a room from the time it was built could soon have been changed again because it represented scenes from Pagan mythology. The complex could thus have been built under Emperor Julian after the Franks invasions of 353 AD, but this remains largely hypothetical. Only a high-ranking official or a member of the imperial family can be considered as the builder of the richly furnished complex. At the driveway there was a small barracks for a bodyguard to block access, which indicates the high rank of the owner.

When the imperial court was withdrawn from Trier around 400, the complex fell into disrepair. Around 588 she mentions Venantius Fortunatus in a travel poem as prisca senatus ("old seat of nobility"). The palace and its lands came into the possession of the Frankish kings as a closed fiscal property . Adela von Pfalzel bought it around 700 as part of an exchange of goods. A Benedictine monastery was built in the ruins of the Roman complex. The presence of Boniface and Gregory of Utrecht is attested here in 721 .

In the 11th century, the Archbishop of Trier Poppo used his patronage and the reduced importance of the monastery. He dissolved the convent and selected the canons to take over. In the western part of the ancient complex, the archbishops had a castle built, which they used more often as a refuge in disputes with the citizens of Trier in the following centuries. In the 16th century, a fortress reinforced with bastions and ramparts was built, which was razed by French troops in 1685. Secularized in 1802, the collegiate church was badly damaged by bombs in 1945 and rebuilt in 1962. The medieval continued use has resulted in numerous other buildings worth seeing in the Palatinate town center, including an office building, palace mill, tithe barn, canons' houses and various courtyards.

investment

The Palatiolum is a four-wing complex in massive stone construction with a rectangular floor plan. The wings were grouped around an inner courtyard (26.53 × 18.3 m) and had projecting risalits at the corners and in the center of all four building fronts . The ground floor had at least twice the height of the room in the towers, above that there were at least two further floors with single height. The symmetrical complex thus had a representative facade on all outer sides, which also offered a certain ability for defense. Excavations in Oedenburg on the Upper Rhine have shown that the floor plan corresponds to a common late antique type of fort.

Of the 28 rooms proven by excavations, two had a mosaic decoration , six geometric marble slabs, in two rooms wall mosaics made of glass stones with scales decoration are proven. While smaller windows were attached to the risalits due to their tower-like appearance, the intermediate wings should be reconstructed like loggias , which is indicated by finds of side pillars and columns. The windows that are still preserved today, with their wide, brick-walled arches and arcades, point to a representative design.

literature

Heinz Cüppers : Trier-Pfalzel TR, Palatiolum, In: H. Cüppers (Ed.): The Romans in Rhineland-Palatinate. Licensed edition, Nikol, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933203-60-0 , pp. 649–653.
Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier (Ed.): Trier - imperial residence and episcopal city. 2nd edition, Mainz 1984, cat no. 163.
Thomas HM Fontaine: The Trier area in the 4th century. In: Alexander Demandt , Josef Engemann (ed.): Konstantin der Große. Emperor Caesar Flavius Constantinus . Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2007, p. 340f.
Karl-Josef Gilles: Trier-Pfalzel: Late Roman palace Palatiolum. In: Hans-Peter Kuhnen (Ed.): The Roman Trier. Theiss, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8062-1517-0 , pp. 240–242 ( Guide to archaeological monuments in Germany 40).
Karl-Josef Gilles: Pfalzel: Fortified late Roman palace. In: Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier (ed.): Guide to archaeological monuments of the Trier region. Trier 2008, ISBN 978-3-923319-73-2 ( series of publications of the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier 35 ) p. 54f.

Individual evidence

↑ Heinz Cüppers in: H. Cüppers (Ed.): The Romans in Rhineland-Palatinate p. 650f.
↑ Venantius Fortunatus: De navigio suo.
^ Thomas HM Fontaine: The Trier area in the 4th century. In: A. Demandt, J. Engemann (ed.): Konstantin der Große. Emperor Caesar Flavius Constantinus . Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2007, p. 341.

49.780571 6.694783Coordinates: 49 ° 46 ′ 50.1 " N , 6 ° 41 ′ 41.2" E

[1] Heinz Cüppers in: H. Cüppers (Ed.): The Romans in Rhineland-Palatinate p. 650f.

[2] Venantius Fortunatus: De navigio suo.

[3] Thomas HM Fontaine: The Trier area in the 4th century. In: A. Demandt, J. Engemann (ed.): Konstantin der Große. Emperor Caesar Flavius Constantinus . Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2007, p. 341.