Trier, Rhineland-Palatinate (Dom Sankt Peter, la chiesa di Santo Pietro, la Catedral de San Pedro de Tréveris, la Cathédrale Saint-Pierre, St. Peter's Cathedral, Katedra św. Piotra w Trewirze (Liebfrauenstraße)

(more pictures you can see by using the link at the end of page passively!)

 

Trier - Romans, vines and Karl Marx

Trier was founded by the Romans in 16 BC. Thus, the Rhineland Palatinate town at the river Mosel is the oldest city of Germany. Roman history, thus, one meets in Trier at every turn. The Basilica, the Imperial Baths, the Amphitheater and of course the famous Porta Nigra are relics from that period. But not only because of their architecture, the Roman occupiers made themselves unforgettable. They also operated the cultivation of wine on a high standard and laid in Trier the foundation for its today's importance as a wine capital. Besides Romans and vines, the city but much more has to offer.

A city view of Trier in the early evening. In the foreground, the Roman Porta Nigra. In the sky, dark storm clouds come in.

The Porta Nigra - Trier's landmark from Roman times

From Celtic settlement to Roman metropolis

Trier is located at an altitude of 124 meters and extends to the left and right of the Mosel. The city is surrounded by hills that belong in the north to the Eifel, in the south to the Hunsrück. Already 3000 years before Christ, founded the Neolithic people first settlements on present-day city area. Several centuries before the Romans came, the Treverians settled on the present city area of Trier. This Celtic tribe is also the namesake of the city. When the Romans on their advance during the Gallic Wars subjugated the Celtic tribe and occupied the area, they called the in 16 BC newly founded city in honor of reigning Emperor Augustus "Augusta Treverorum".

Towering ruined remnants of the facade of the Roman Imperial Baths. In the of red bricks built walls round window arches are to be seen. The ancient backdrop is lit by the summer evening sun. Roman luxury life in the Imperial Baths.

The Roman town was developed into metropolis of the province of Gallia Belgica and fortified. The rampart system should protect the Roman city from attack of enemy Germans. That Trier yet then but was far more than just a military camp is evidenced by the many archaeological finds of civil buildings. Trier was a military base, but also mart. Over the Mosel troops and goods were shipped. Above all, it was the wine which the Romans in and around Trier brought wealth.

Trier Cathedral from the front side. In front of the cathedral are city tourists contemplating the building. Right next to the Cathedral is the added Church of Our Lady to see. The Cathedral of Trier with adjoining Church of Our Lady

The end of Roman splendor

To the great importance of Trier also contributed that the city already in Roman times became the center of Christianity and Episcopal see. Although Trier was destroyed by the invasion of the Alemanni for the most part in 275, but it was by the Roman Emperor Constantine - his reign lasted from 306 to 337 - rebuilt. From his era stem many magnificent buildings, which are still partly preserved.

A witness of the Roman luxury life is the huge area of the Imperial Baths. Although from the formerly fashionable bathing temple only stand ruins, but on the basis of surface and underground ruins you can guess how the Roman occupiers were able to have a good time with a sophisticated hot air system. More remnants of Roman architecture are the famous Porta Nigra, the Roman Bridge, which crosses the Moselle, and the huge basilica, which is today used as a Protestant church.

In the years 367-392 AD, Trier with more than 80,000 inhabitants was the largest city north of the Alps and capital of the Western Roman Empire. When the Romans during the Great Migration and the advancing Germans had to withdraw, brought this along, as for many other former Roman cities, for Trier too the decline. The rest of destruction did the invading Franks, Huns and in 882 the Vikings.

An engraving shows the city of Trier in the panorama around 1740. Outstanding of the sea of houses the many church towers are recognisable. In the background you can see the hilly landscape surrounding the city. In the foreground the Mosel flows past Trier. In the front center of the engraving, wine barrel and bishop insignia symbolize important fundamentals of city history. An engraving shows Trier around 1740.

From the Dark Ages to modern times

How much Trier in the early Middle Ages became less important, is especially evident from the fact that the city was then only half as large as in the Roman period. Only gradually under the influence of the ecclesiastical princes who resided here it grew up again into a metropolis. In the reconstruction of Trier Archbishop Henry I in the year 958 relocated the market area from the Roman bridge in front of the so-called cathedral city and thus in his immediate control section. As a visible sign of his power, but also as a symbol of the will to seek again a role as major trading town, the Archbishop on the new marketplace had built a magnificent market cross, which still stands in its place today.

The symbol showed the desired effect: from medieval deterioration, Trier gradually rose again into an important trade and power center. Secular and clerical magnificent buildings emerged. The marketplace now is one of the most beautiful ones in Germany and with its magnificent buildings bears witness to the richness of that time. Another important milestone in the city's history is the year 1473. At that time the University of Trier was founded, at which today approximately 15,000 students are enrolled.

View from the pedestrian zone to the Porta Nigra. On the street play children and stroll pedestrians. On a bench sit people. Pedestrian zone and Porta Nigra

The French are coming

After a long period of economic prosperity, Trier, inter alia, in the wake of the Thirty Years' War (1616-1648) came in the maelstrom of political and military conflicts. Occupation, destruction and oppression were the result. The population and many buildings, including religious structures were affected. During the Revolutionary War, French troops occupied in 1794 again the town at the Mosel. 1801 the citizens of Trier officially French citizenship was imposed. In the course of secularization, churches and monasteries were closed and converted, partially even demolished.

For the strictly Catholic people of Trier bad 20 years were dawning. But as in many other cities the Napoleonic period also entailed the progress. The administration was modernized, the jurisprudence by the Bürgerliche Gesetzbuch, the Civil Code, democratized. Napoleon also prompted to clear off the Porta Nigra of the added church building, whose integral part the old Roman gate in the Middle Ages had become. In this way, the French emperor the people of Trier gave a landmark, which still exists today.

When the French after the wars of liberation in 1814 left Trier, the citizens of the Moselle town, in their view, came from bad to worse. At the Congress of Vienna it was decided to place Trier under Prussian-Protestant administration.

Framed by two more modern homes is the birthplace of Karl Marx. The house is painted white, the roof covered with slate. In the facade a memorial plaque is embedded. Before the house an information board indicates the sight of the city. The house consists of ground floor, first floor and an attic with window dormers. The birthplace of Karl Marx.

Romance, Marx and Capitalism

The end of the Napoleonic and Liberation wars, causing a high death toll and privations, in addition to the desired peace a new attitude to life had in tow: Romanticism. The travelling and wanderlust emerged. As a result of the romantic idea, Trier and the picturesque Mosel region with its many ruins were very popular.

After the romantic wave Trier in the second half of the 19th century experienced the transition into a new era. The industrialization also took possession of the old Mosel town. About the new economic order of capitalism revolted soon a world-famous child of Trier: Karl Marx.

The author, journalist and social philosopher, who with his critical work "The Capital" caused international sensation, saw in 1818 in Trier Bridge road the light of day. A circumstance which to this day attracts streams of visitors from communist countries. Especially for many visitors from China, the native town of Marx Trier has become a veritable Mecca.

A look at beautiful summer weather from castle grounds to the magnificent rococo facade of the Electoral Palace. On your left, adjacent the Basilica from the Roman period. In the foreground, a statue and a flower bed. Castle Park, Electoral Palace and Basilica

Economic boom, with vines and Romans

After the First World War in 1918, the French as part of the victorious powers moved into the Mosel town. Their time of occupation lasted until 1930, but also in another point history should repeat. Had the old Roman city in the past yet often been victim of distructions, big parts of the city in the 20th century again fell in ruins and ashes. Artillery shells and bombs afflicted Trier in the last years of the Second World War. Many people back then died in the rubble.

That many historic buildings have survived the war, however, was not far away from a miracle and probably provided the rapid resurgence of Trier to a major city that today knows how to market its rich history perfectly. Trier with nine monuments stands on the UNESCO World Heritage list and therefore occupies the top position in Germany, though. In addition to the relics from Roman times but also attracts the wine, which is grown in Trier and the surrounding area, many visitors. From the yield of the vines, from tourism and gastronomy, today are living directly and indirectly many of the more than 100,000 inhabitants.

www.planet-wissen.de/natur_technik/fluesse_und_seen/mosel ...

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