Roman grave of Nehren
The Roman grave of Nehren is a Roman grave from the 3rd to 4th century AD, discovered near the Rhineland-Palatinate town of Nehren in the district of Cochem-Zell . This contains the best preserved vault paintings north of the Alps .
History of discovery and restoration
The burial chamber had been known to the local population for a long time. However, it was not examined further and was partially buried.
In 1912 Paul Steiner inspected and drew the burial chambers . The sketches attracted attention in 1920 and led to the burial chambers being examined in detail by Daniel Krencker in 1924 . However, he did not dig. In addition to drawings of the floor plan and the recognizable walls, an inventory list of the superficially recognizable components was created. For the first time, descriptions of the wall paintings were made.
It was not until 1973 that the State Office for Prehistory and Early History in Koblenz began a detailed investigation of the grave complex. For the first time excavations were carried out and a second burial chamber was discovered. After all the data was available, it was decided to reconstruct the grave temple .
Work on Temple 1 ended in November 1975 and work on Temple 2 ended in September 1976. Then they began to clean the paintings in burial chamber 1. In 1977 the old Roman tufa eaves, which served as water drainage, were destroyed by drainage work .
In 1978 several scientists made an opinion on the wall paintings. In the same year a slope cut was carried out in the cella of burial chamber I. At the end of the year, a restorer secured the Roman plaster to secure loose and hollow spots. Shortly afterwards, the western and northern fronts of the chamber were secured.
In 1979 the floor of the cella and the vestibule was taken and an insulating layer was applied. Then the paving was laid again. A photogrammetric measurement of the complete chamber 1 provided for the first time a rectified drawing of the wall painting.
In 1986, previously unobserved piles of stones below the burial chamber were examined and it was discovered that they were fragments of burial chamber 1, which has since been restored.
In 1999 the water drainage from the cell lobby was repaired.
In 2003, the Cologne University of Applied Sciences began the conservation, renovation and restoration of the environmentally damaged grave complex. Efforts are made to keep the humidity in the burial chamber constant, as the fluctuations in humidity lead to damage.
Construction of the tomb
The grave complex consists of two roughly equal two-storey grave chambers. They have the dimensions 3 × 4 meters. The superstructures are designed in the form of grave temples. It was built on a slope with a slope of 30 °. The western burial chamber 1 has been completely preserved and the original painting still exists, while the eastern burial chamber 2 is only partially intact.
The foundation of the burial chambers consists of greywacke and is built against the rock wall. For this purpose were bricks used. Two centimeters thick, two-tone stone slabs were laid on the floor. These are made of green diabase and gray marble . Dolomite lime served as the mortar. Wall plaster has the same origin.
The color palette of the wall painting consists of yellow and red ocher . Limescale was used to produce a pink-red color. In addition, green earth and vine black were used.
Wall painting
Broad red bands separate the two main zones horizontally. Each wall surface is framed by these bands. Upright rectangular segments were painted onto the masonry as latticework. In the upper part, red ribbon decorate the latticework.
The painting on the front of both graves is divided into three parts, each with a red ribbon decorated with yellow and gray ribbons.
The vault has an octagonal red cassette decorated with a black ribbon. Further halved cassettes connect the central cassette with the vault sides.
Green foliage was inserted into the resulting spaces. In addition, dark fruits were drawn into it. Red flowers and green foliage are in the three niches of the burial chamber.
literature
- Rüdiger Gogräfe: The Roman wall and ceiling paintings in northern Upper Germany , Neustadt an der Weinstrasse 1999, p. 458–61, Fig. 29 on p. 67, 76 and 77 on p. 107, 108 ISBN 3-9805635-2-9 (to the wall paintings)
Web links
- History of the discovery of the Roman burial chamber
- Preventive conservation and restoration of an environmentally damaged Roman grave complex in Nehren
Coordinates: 50 ° 5 '23.3 " N , 7 ° 11' 9" E