Enigmatic basement in Vienna: Was it a Roman prison?
Enigmatic basement in Vienna: Was it a Roman prison?
In the living city of Vienna, the ongoing infrastructure projects are not only about modern developments, but also about uncovering fascinating relics from the past. In these excavations, city archeology sees both a challenge and an opportunity to finally shed light on the partly hidden part of Vienna's history. Kristina Adler-Wölfl, the curator of the new exhibition in the Roman Museum, emphasizes that the excavations are of great importance for our understanding of city history. A remarkable stone block was discovered at the Viennese farmers market in 2021 and 2022, which covered a narrow window in the outer wall of a deep basement.
The basement, which has a depth of five meters and an area of 450 m², is unique for the Roman Danubeime. The current exhibition "Keller Stories" in the Roman Museum deals intensively with the evidence process to determine the purpose of this basement. Originally you share it with the Roman legion camp and dated it to the 4th century AD. Possible uses of the room ranged from a maid, i.e. a sanctuary for the god Mithras, to a Horreum, i.e. a grain and storage memory, to a carcer, a prison. The present indications speak strongly for the last two variants, with the depth of the room and the high window indicate use as a prison.
The everyday life of the detained
historical documents report on the poor prison conditions in Roman nuclei, shaped by little light and unsanitary conditions. In this basement, too, it remains unclear who was imprisoned there, as there is a lack of typical evidence such as bonds or graffiti that can often be found in other Roman prisons. The function of the basement as a possibly overcrowded prison could be related to the high number of prisoners of war in late antiquity.
In parallel to these exciting finds, an exceptional archaeological project is also being worked on in Hasenleitengasse, which could influence the history of Vienna. Historians have made a find here and archaeolog: a find that is subjected to a more precise examination, including DNA and isotope analyzes as well as geophysical studies of the grave environment. The funeral method is particularly interesting, since human body stored in the ground in no time - an exception in the Roman world, where fire burials were common around the year 100 AD.insights into the past of Vienna
If you think of Vienna's Roman history, you quickly realize that a time full of challenges and upheavals prevailed here. The decades between AD 50 and 120 were relatively peaceful, but the Danube war of the Emperor Domitian in the years 81 to 96 led to dramatic changes when Germanic groups crossed the Roman border. These conflicts left profound traces and meant that Emperor Trajan massively expanded the donaulime fortification line. It remains exciting to observe how the city archeology of Vienna, located at the Obere Augartstraße location, deals with the hail of shards in history and presents valuable finds to a general public.
not only merged in Vienna, not only the present is designed, but also researched and documented the exciting past. Regardless of whether in the Roman Museum or the current excavations in Hasenleitengasse, Viennese history comes into the light - and exciting things are waiting to be discovered.
More about this under the links to the Kurier, Magazin Vienna Museum] (https://magazin.wienmuseum.at/roemischer-sensationsfund-in-der-hasenleitengasse) and history wiki Wien.
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| Ort | Obere Augartenstraße 26-28, 1020 Wien, Österreich |
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