June 24, 2023 - Germany
Trier

"Germany's oldest city lies at the head of the scenic Mosel Valley, near the border with Luxembourg.  An ancient Roman capital, Trier brts that it was inhabited by Celts for 1,300 years before Rome even existed.  A short stop here offers you a look at Germany's oldest Christian church, one of its most enjoyable market squares, and its best Roman ruins.  Founded by Augustus in 16 BC, Trief was a Roman town called Augusta Treverorum for 400 years.  When Emperor Diocletian (who ruled AD 285-305) divided his overextended Roman Empire into four sectors, he made Trier the capital of the west:  roughly modern-day Germany, France, Spain, and England.  For most of the fourth century, this city of 80,000 -- with a four-mile wall, four great gates, and 47 round towers -- was a favored residence of Roman emperors.  Emperor Constantine lived here, spending lavishly on urban projects.  As a military town in a god-forsaken corner of the empire, Trier received lots of perks from Rome to make it livable for those assigned here.  But when the last emperor checked out in AD395, the money dried up, and that was the end of Trier's ancient glory days.  In the late 400s, when Rome fell to the barbarians, so did Trier.  "  ... Rick Steves

Porta Nigra is the only one of four Roman Trier's huge gates that survives.  It was the northern gate and is "the most impressive Roman fortification in Germany.  It was built without mortar -- only iron pegs hold the sand stone blocks together.  While the other three gates were destroyed by medieval metal-and-stone scavengers, this 'black gate' )originally lighter sandstone, but darkened by time) survived because it became a church.  St. Simeon -- a pious Green recluse -- lived inside the gate for seven years.  After his death in 1035, the St. Simeon monastery was established, and the Roman gate was made into a two-story church  -- lay church on the bottom, monastery church on top.

Here, we're looking at the Porta Nigra from the north.
   
Unfortunately, a stage has been set up in front of the Porta Nigra for some event and we couldn't get a good look from the south.
   
A model of the Roman city of Trier.  The gate we are in -- Porta Nigra -- is at top.
   

Although Trier is on the Mosel River -- which is depicted on this model at lower left -- it is inland a little and we never saw it.  Porta Negra is at top -- just left of center.
   
The Porta Nigra was built around 170 AD as the Roman city's northern gate.  Unlike the other gates to the town, it escaped destruction because the Greek monk Simeon of Syracuse settled in it around 1030.  He lived as a hermit in a cell in the eastern tower, spending his days singing and praying.  Simeon died in 1035, and by the end of the same year the pope and canonized him and Archbishop Poppo von Bandenburg of Trier had founded the Collegiate Church of St. Simeon in his honour.  Poppo had the Porta Nigra altered into a two-story church which later underwent further changes and additions.  In 1804, Emperor Napoleon  decreed its demolition.  The Roman gate was finally uncovered under Prussian rule.  Of the Church of St. Simeon, only the Romanesque eastern choir survived. 
 
This model documents the ancient Porta Nigra as a church in the 17th -century. 
 
   
What the main drag -- Simeon Strasse -- might have looked like in the Roman era.
   
What it looks like now; very medieval looking.
   
 
   
 Looking at the original Roman twin gates from the inside.
   
And from the outside.
   
Close-up of one of the gates.
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
Close by the Porta Nigra is this statue of Karl Marx gifted to Trier by China in 2018 to commemorate Marx's 200th birthday.  The event drew local protests.  The statue is highly controversial.
   

Also in Trief-- which we didn't see -- is a small pink house where Marx lived from age one until he left for college at 17.  His birthplace in Trier has been turned into a museum which we didn't have time to see.

My feelings on Karl Marx?  Well, if you overlook the 100 million or so deaths communist governments were responsible for that Marx's ideas spawned, in his own life he proved himself a poor human being.  Per Paul Johnson's interesting book "Intellectuals", Marx hardly worked a day in his life, mooching off the generosity of others like Engels.  He was no expert about the things he wrote.  He wrote about the workers of the industrial revolution despite having toured a single factory.
   
We headed down the main drag -- Simeon Strasse -- to the Market Square.  The square's centerpice is this monument with a stone market cross (a replica of the AD 958 original).  "The stone market cross was the archbishop's way of bragging about the trading rights granted to him by King Otto the Great.  This was a slap in the face to Trier's townspeople.  They'd wanted Trier to be designated a "free imperial city," with full trading rights and beholden only to the Holy Roman Emperor, not a local prince or archbishop."
   
This building -- now a restaurant -- was the 15th century Town Hall.  "The people of Trier wanted a town hall, but the archbishop wouldn't allow it -- so they built this 'assembly hall' instead, with a knight on each second-story corner.  The knight on the left, facing Market Square, has his mask up, watching over his people.  The other knight, facing the cathedral and the archbishop, has his mask down and his hand on his sword, ready for battle.  Just below the knights are four brightly painted 16th century statues of Christian figures nestled between the arches."
   
The tall white steeple with yellow trim is "the Gothic tower of the Church of St. Gangolf, the medieval townspeople's church and fire-watchman's post. ... In 1507, Trier's mayor built this new Gothic tower to make the people's church higher than the cathedral.  In retaliation, the archbishop raised one tower of his cathedrawl (all he could afford).
   
We've got the Meats!  I had a Bratwurst here; it was great!
   


The Renaissance St. Peter's Fountain (1595).  "This fountain symbolizes throughtful city government, with allegorical statues of justice (sword and scale), fortitude (broken column), temperance (wine and water), and prudence (a snake andl, formerly, a mirror -- but since the mirror was stolen long ago, she's now empty-handed.  The ladies represent idealized cardinal virtues -- but notice the rude monkeys hiading on the column behind them, showing the naughty ways things are really done."
   
The market square was a happening place, for sure.
   

 

 
   
"This pink and white building was once a palace for the archbishop.  Notice the seal above the door:  a crown flanked by a crosier (representing the bishop's ecclesiastical power) and a sword (demonstrating his political might)."
   

Looking past what used to be the archbishop's palace you can see the Cathedral down the street, with its one tall tower.

"In medieval times, the cathedral was its own walled city, and the archbishop of Trier was one of the seven German electors who chose the Holy Roman Emperor.  This gave the archbishop tremendous political, as well as spiritual, power.
   
Standing in front of the Cathedral, the oldest Christian church in Germany.  "After Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire in AD 312, his mother, Helena (now a saint), allowed part of her palace in Trier to be used as the first church on this spot.  In AD 326, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his reign, Constantine began the construction of two great churches:  St. Peter's in Rome and this hugh cathedral in Trier -- also called St. Peter's."
   
From another angle.
   
Near the Cathdral is the Basilica:  the largest intact Roman structure outisde Rome.
   

"It's best known as a basilica, but it actually started out as an imperial throne room.  The last emperor moved out in 395 AD, and petty kings set up camp in the building throughout the Middle Ages.  By the 12th century, the archbishops had taken it over, using the nave as a couryard and converting the apse into a five-story palace.  The building became a Lutheran church in 1856, and it remains the leading Protestant church in Trier.  It was badly damaged by WWII bombs but has been restored.

We tried hard to go inside and tour this building but it was always closed.
   
This pretty pink Rococo wing, the Elector's Palace, was added to the basilica in the 18th century to house the archbishop-elector; today, it holds local government offices.
   
 
   
Another look at the Rococo wing.   In front of the wing is a very nice, colorful garden.
   
A better look at the garden.
   
PARK
   
These are ruins of the Imperial Roman Baths.  Built by Emperor Constantine, they would have been the most intricate baths of the Roman world.  They required a two-story subterranean complex of pipes, furnaces, and slave galleys to keep the water at a perfect 120 degrees.
   
The Romans worked on the baths project for 30 years; but they were never finished..  When Constantine left Trier in 316 AD, the huge and costly project was scuttled.
   
Our next step was the Roman amphitheater, built around 200 AD, and seating at least 16,000.
 
Lynnette standing outside the entrance.
   
Inside the amphitheater.
   
A gladiator demonstration underway.  While there were gladiator fights, the amphitheater was more often used for assemblies and religious festivals.
   
 
   
We were able to go underneath the arena floor into the cellar which was very damp and wet.
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
Overlooking the amphitheater were vineyards.
   
Hail Caesar!
   
 
   
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