In 15 BC Roman troops led by Nero Claudius Drusus and his brother Tiberius conquered and destroyed an existing Celtic settlement, later named Cambodunum (today Kempten). In the following years the city was rebuilt on a classical Roman city plan with baths, forum and temples. Initially in wood, the city was later rebuilt in stone after a devastating fire that destroyed almost the entire city in the year 69 AD. The city possibly served as provincial capital of Raetia during the first century before Augsburg took over this role.
2000 year old city history is visible in the Roman city Kempten, in traces and finds from 120 years of archaeology. You can experience the antique life in the settlement and temple area in the open air. Follow the layout of the first capital of the Alpine Province Rhaetia between the walls of the Forum and the Basilica. Dive into the bath culture of the small thermal baths of the Governor’s Palace.
The Roman city Kempten – Cambodunum is recognized as the civil administrative centre and the Governor’s Seat of the Province Rhaetia in the first century AD, before the later provincial capital Augsburg – Augusta Vindelicum. After archaeological excavation since 1885, from 1983 onward, areas of the antique settlement are not anymore covered but made publicly accessible as an archaeological park abbreviated to APC. Some of these buildings are reconstructed in situ. There are the forum, the basilica and the small baths (Thermae) which are explained by means of multimedia.
The Gallo Roman Temple area with 13 buildings is partly reconstructed. Tables and archaeological finds show the Roman life. The temple area also houses a small Taberna or restaurant and a shop. There are guided tours offered which can even be booked in the evenings. At special events, living history demonstrations are offered.
References:Saint-Georges de Boscherville Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey. It was founded in about 1113 by Guillaume de Tancarville on the site of an earlier establishment of secular canons and settled by monks from the Abbey of Saint-Evroul. The abbey church made of Caumont stone was erected from 1113 to 1140. The Norman builders aimed to have very well-lit naves and they did this by means of tall, large windows, initially made possible by a wooden ceiling, which prevented uplift, although this was replaced by a Gothic vault in the 13th century. The chapter room was built after the abbey church and dates from the last quarter of the 12th century.
The arrival of the Maurist monks in 1659, after the disasters of the Wars of Religion, helped to get the abbey back on a firmer spiritual, architectural and economic footing. They erected a large monastic building one wing of which fitted tightly around the chapter house (which was otherwise left as it was).