Varnenum

Bricked up foundations at the Varnenum archaeological site (1997)

Visitors at the excavation site

The temple area of Varnenum, developed by means of phosphate soil analysis

Reconstruction model of one of the two main temples in the Frankenberg Castle Museum, Aachen

Varnenum is a Gallo-Roman excavation site near Kornelimünster . It is located about 300 meters east of St. Stephen's Church on a plateau called "Schildchen". It is a former Roman temple district, the foundation and first construction period of which is scheduled around the time of Christ's birth. The first documented excavations were carried out on the site in 1907, 1911, 1923 and 1924 . Another excavation carried out in 1986 and 1987 was preceded by magnetometer prospecting by the RAB as well as a phosphate- analytical soil investigation, the drilling grid area of which comprised approx. 250,000 m² and thus extended very spaciously around the old excavation area.

The report of the excavator Max Schmid-Burgk mentions three temple temples, one of which was built on the foundations of an older one. He also reports on typical finds such as fibulas , needles, nails, coins and ceramics , which, however , it seems, were lost in the Second World War . Information about the revered gods was provided by three bronze tablets that were found , which are to be regarded as votive offerings . On them the god Varneno and the goddess Sunuxal are named. The tabulae ansata ("panels with handles") related to the name of the sanctuary or its two deities bear the following inscriptions:

"Varne" (# 26):

G (ENIO) VARNE
NI C (ONDUCTOR) P (ASCUI) S (ALLNARUM)

"Varneno" (# 27):

DEO VARNENONI
M (ARCUS) FUCISSIUS SECUND
DUS SEXVIRALIS AUG
USTORUM C (OLONIA) C (LAUDIA) A (RA) A (GRIPPINENSIUM)
VOTUM SOLVIT

"Sunuxal" (# 28):

(DE) AE SUNUXSAL
VO (?) CISSIONIS
V (OTUM) S (SOLVIT) L (IBENS) M (ERITO)

Buildings in the north of the facility were no longer excavated. Before 70 AD, the temple complex was destroyed by fire in its second archaeologically striking construction period. The expansion-oriented reconstruction in period III is dated by a Vespasian sesterce find. In the period IV, which cannot be defined in more detail, the southern area of the temple complex was enclosed with a Temenos wall and gate. The magnetometer prospections as well as the phosphate analyzes of the soil samples carried out at the Geographical Institute of the University of Kiel indicate a temple area of at least 150,000 m² with a vicus that was used agriculturally and infrastructurally in period III at the latest . Analyzes of aerial photographs and magnetometer measurements confirm a direct route connection to Breinig, where calamine was extracted at the time . The development of the settlement history around the Aachen center and its thermal baths suggests that the cultural significance of Varnenum was later transferred to the Sunuker temple between the Dom and Bücheltherme .

The foundations of the temple and some outbuildings were restored in 1989 and rebuilt up to a height of around one meter. The system is owned by the city of Aachen and is looked after by the Eifelverein Kornelimünster.

literature

Heinz Günter Horn : Aachen-Kornelimünster. Roman temple precinct. In the S. (Ed.): The Romans in North Rhine-Westphalia. Licensed edition of the 1987 edition. Nikol, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933203-59-7 , pp. 329–331.

Web links

Commons : Varnenum - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b Wilfried Maria Koch: Aachen in Roman times. In: Journal of the Aachen History Association . Volume 98-99, 1992/1993, Part I. P. 16.
↑ ^a ^b Wilfried Maria Koch: Archaeological report for the year 1987 . In: Zeitschrift des Aachener Geschichtsverein , Vol. 94–95, 1987. pp. 485–511.
↑ ^a ^b Thomas Krüger: Made visible in the laboratory: The base of the Roman temple district VARNENVM. In: Archäologie im Rheinland 1987. Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne, pp. 70–71.
↑ Guide to the Roman Department of the Museum Burg Frankenberg , 1986. See pp. 15-16. The text additions in brackets to the finds and exhibits no. 26 and 28 are from E. Gose, see Bonner Jahrbücher 155/156, 1955/56, pp. 169–177.
^ Wilfried Maria Koch: Aachen in Roman times. In: Journal of the Aachen History Association. Volume 98-99 (1992/1993) Part I. Pp. 14-16.
^ Heinz Cüppers: Contributions to the history of the Roman spa and bathing resort Aachen. In: Aquae Granni, contributions to the archeology of Aachen. Cologne / Bonn 1982.

50.729722222222 6.1936111111111Coordinates: 50 ° 43 ′ 47 " N , 6 ° 11 ′ 37" E

[Koch1992-1] A ^b Wilfried Maria Koch: Aachen in Roman times. In: Journal of the Aachen History Association . Volume 98-99, 1992/1993, Part I. P. 16.

[Koch1987-2] Wilfried Maria Koch: Archaeological report for the year 1987 . In: Zeitschrift des Aachener Geschichtsverein , Vol. 94–95, 1987. pp. 485–511.

[Krüger1987-3] Thomas Krüger: Made visible in the laboratory: The base of the Roman temple district VARNENVM. In: Archäologie im Rheinland 1987. Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne, pp. 70–71.

[4] Guide to the Roman Department of the Museum Burg Frankenberg , 1986. See pp. 15-16. The text additions in brackets to the finds and exhibits no. 26 and 28 are from E. Gose, see Bonner Jahrbücher 155/156, 1955/56, pp. 169–177.

[5] Wilfried Maria Koch: Aachen in Roman times. In: Journal of the Aachen History Association. Volume 98-99 (1992/1993) Part I. Pp. 14-16.

[6] Heinz Cüppers: Contributions to the history of the Roman spa and bathing resort Aachen. In: Aquae Granni, contributions to the archeology of Aachen. Cologne / Bonn 1982.