Antiquity
The Roman Empire once extended over much of today's German Federal Republic, and there are still remains from around 100-150AD at the Limes Romanus, the border defence system of Ancient Rome marking the boundaries of the Roman Empire at that time. In addition to military structures such as forts and military camps built by the Romans, and other border fortifications, there are also spas, bridges, and amphitheatres.
Trier, on the banks of the Moselle River, is the oldest city in Germany, a great metropolis founded in or before 16 BC. The best-known survival from that period is probably the Porta Nigra, the best-preserved ancient city gate. There are also remains of thermal spas, a Roman bridge and the (reconstructed) Constantine basilica.
With the departure of the Romans, their urban culture and their advances in architecture (e.g., heating, window, and glass) vanished from Germany.
Read more about this topic: German Architecture
Famous quotes containing the word antiquity:
“We do not associate the idea of antiquity with the ocean, nor wonder how it looked a thousand years ago, as we do of the land, for it was equally wild and unfathomable always. The Indians have left no traces on its surface, but it is the same to the civilized man and the savage. The aspect of the shore only has changed.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“How do you know antiquity was foolish? How do you know the present is wise? Who made it foolish? Who made it wise?”
—François Rabelais (1494–1553)
“When we dream about those who are long since forgotten or dead, it is a sign that we have undergone a radical transformation and that the ground on which we live has been completely dug up: then the dead rise up, and our antiquity becomes modernity.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)