The Roman military camps and following them the city of Carnuntum was founded in the first century CE. The settlement flourished and became the capital of the Roman province Pannonia Superior, at that time having about 50000 inhabitants.

In Roman times Carnuntum bordered directly on the River Danube and the famous Amber Road, leading from the Baltic Sea to the Adria, crossed the Danube in the area of Carnuntum, which thus lay at important crossroads from North to South and East to West. In 433 CE Carnuntum and other important cities in the Norther provinces were handed over to the Huns; following that and making a big step ahead time wise, Carnuntum never reached its Roman glory again and most of the area was not built over in the following centuries. This makes Carnuntum one of the best researched Roman spots north of the Alps. The systematic excavation that started in the 19th century continues until today – although the methods have changed a lot. Our project partner the LBIArchPro for example did the geoprospections bringing to light the marvellous structures of the Roman Carnuntum still below ground today.

Carnuntum is also one of the places where archaeological research, conservation, presentation of original finds in the museum Carnuntinum and re-living Roman history meet. In the archaeological park Carnuntum, associated strategic partner of Living Danube Limes, the visitors are able to literally walk into Roman history when visiting the Roman buildings erected on spot; they can book a time travel tour where a “Roman” guide invites them to his or her hometown Carnuntum and shows them the hotspots and relates the latest gossip from the 4th century CE (the period best preserved in Carnuntum and thus being the basis for the Roman houses rebuilt). During certain times in the year visitors can even go to see gladiatorial fights in one of Carnuntum’s amphitheatre or visit living historians during one of the big Roman festivals on site and thus get an even better idea how the Roman past along the shores of the Danube could have looked like.

We have put all these ingredients from archaeological research to re-living the Roman past in Carnuntum into one video that gives you not only a behind the scenes tour in the archaeological depot with the scientific director of Carnuntum, but also invites you to visit Carnuntum with its many different sites and offers yourselves:

Living History and the Archaeological Park of Carnuntum

Photo by: Raffaela Woller