Pfyn - Heritage Sites of National Significance

Heritage Sites of National Significance

The Ad Fines (a late-Roman fortress), the Breitenloo (a prehistoric lake shore settlement) and the shared or ecumenical (German: Paritätische) church of St. Bartholomäus are listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significance.

The Ad Fines hill is now eroded by the Thur and Mühlebach rivers, and has nearly vanished in the south and east. Of the wall, only parts of the north and west still survive. It was not until the excavations of the 1976, 1980–81 and 1990–92, that the fort was better understood. The walls were about 3 m (9.8 ft) high. A total of six semi-circular towers are known, though location of the gate and the moat are still unknown. Very little is known about the layout and type of buildings that were within the approximately 15,000 m2 (160,000 sq ft) area enclosed by the walls. A sod fountain and the remains of wooden buildings are all that has been found. The castle was also found along with a small, neighboring cemetery. Many coins and other objects found in the cemetery and the rest of the interior indicate that the fort was occupied Roman soldiers, including mounted troops, from the later 3rd Century until the beginning of the 5th Century.

In 1944, the prehistoric site at Breitenloo was excavated and 17 different houses were found. The houses are located along a north-south main street with the gables facing the street. The buildings are almost exclusively built with two naves and have lengths of 4–11 meters (13–36 ft) and widths from 3.5–5.5 meters (11–18 ft). It is striking that several houses of vastly different sizes lay side by side, suggesting perhaps larger homes with smaller farm buildings. The house floors were all built with complex support structures and overlying split boards, which were usually covered with clay. Midden heaps in the soil and partial scorch marks on the support structures suggest that at least some buildings were lifted quite high off the ground.