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Rhine border of the Romans strives for world heritage status

May 2, 2018

The Lower German Limes between Bad Breisig in Rhineland-Palatinate and the seaside resort Katwijk in the Netherlands is to be considered for World Cultural Heritage status.

https://p.dw.com/p/2x0bE
Deutschland Rhein
Image: DW/V. Kumar

A spokesperson for the German UNESCO Commission in Bonn confirmed that the plan is on the German proposal list. This is an approximately 400-kilometer-long border section that follows the course of the Rhine during Roman times.

The "wet Limes" ends at border fortifications that are already under World Heritage protection. In the north it is Hadrian's Wall in Great Britain. In the south it is the Upper Germanic Limes, which stretches 550 kilometers from Rheinbrohl in Rhineland-Palatinate to Eining in Bavaria. The Romans fortified and secured the borders of their empire about 2000 years ago. Limes can be a wall, an earth mound, a ditch or even a river.

Upper Germanic Limes

In North Rhine-Westphalia, the Lower Germanic Limes is almost 220 kilometers long. Along the route there are 19 municipalities with important Roman military excavation sites. The most significant place is Cologne, where the official seat of the governor of the Roman province of Lower Germany was. Xanten was at times the largest legion camp in the Roman Empire with at least 10,000 men.

UNESCO announced that the nomination for the Lower Germanic Limes has not yet been submitted. According to the Limes representative for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Steve Bödecker, this is planned for 2020. The Netherlands are in charge of this project. The German states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate are cooperating accordingly.

is/ch/sbc (dlf,dpa)