The Praetorium

As I had been wandering around Cologne discovering its secrets, I came across a stone dome of sorts sitting on the sidewalk.  It was fenced so that you could not get too close to it but could only read a plaque about it.  It was a chunk of the Roman sewer system which runs 9 metres below the surface of the city.  The plaque directed the reader to the entrance of the Praetorium down the street – so I knew I  had to go.  Unfortunately, it was closed by the time I arrived but it was first on my list for the next day.

The chunk of Roman Sewer on the street.

So me – always hungry for Roman ruins – visited the Praetorium – where the first thing I got to do was to walk through the remaining sewer line.  It runs for about 100 metres and averages about 2 m in height.  It is a long rock lined tunnel that I am sure must have been used during war time as a passage.  There was a plaque with information about it but sadly it was only in German so I cannot tell you what it said.  After that I checked out the other ruins – the Praetorium – or Governor’s Palace.

The information plaque at the entrance of the Praetorium

Cologne was Rome’s most northern colony and was settled in approximately 50AD.  They built the office and residence of the governor of the Roman Emperor and also the headquarters of the commander-in-chief of the Roman Army for the Lower Rhine.  The ruins had taken some further damage from bombings in the WW’s but had essentially been destroy in the late 700s due to an earthquake.

Entering the sewer

Looking down the length of the sewer - at least it was lit!

The ruins are now protected now within a building.  They are still excavating some of the ruins around the Town Hall – which was built above them – for future exhibition.  Not all of them will be within a building.  Currently you can even watch archaeology practitioners sifting through soil and collecting artifacts.  The palace is very large and numerous models help give you an idea of what it looked like.

The foundations of the palace dwarf the small model

Damage from the earthquake which brought an end to the use of the building

What I also liked were the cork models of the buildings that used to be there.  Apparently in the 1800s cork models among elite families of such structures were to be valued and displayed in homes.  I have been attracted to model building for a long time and this gave me lots of examples to study.

Housed in a concrete building the ruins dominate the space

This is must visit for anyone coming to Cologne.  And the other perk is that it is only 3 euros for entry – actually I have been finding all of their museums to be affordable for their entry costs.

A cork model giving you a sense of what had been here.