Visit the Frontiers of the Roman Empire and the Roman Wall at the Limes

Visit the frontiers of the Roman Empire with this amazing post about the limes Unesco World Heritage Site and the roman wall in Germany.

Driving down the autobahn these days, you see lots of “brown” signs. Brown indicates a place of interest. This runs the gamut as far as how someone has defined “interest.”

But if there is a truly important site in the nearby town, especially if it is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, you can be sure there is a brown sign telling you to turn here!

In this article, you’ll learn:

The Frontiers of the Roman Empire – The Limes Unesco World Heritage Site
Thoughts on the Limes Unesco World Heritage Site

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Limes Museum Aalen with a fort and displays from the Roman Empire barrier.

For year, we kept driving by this one. The one that said “Limes”, which is what the Germans call the Roman Empire barrier. We finally headed there, which was long overdue, with high expectations as we have visited one other site, Saalburg which is a pretty cool rebuilt Roman fort north of Frankfurt. (Yes, it also has a brown sign, so you can’t get lost.)

A boar hunting scene outside of the fort walls. in the Limes Museum. — A boar hunting scene outside of the fort walls.

The Frontiers of the Roman Empire – The Limes Unesco World Heritage Site

The ruins and museum are in the town of Aalen. The ruins of the fort are all encompassed on the museum grounds and are surrounded by a fence. They’re not quite as impressive as the Porta Nigra in Trier, however, you can see part of the excavations right in the front yard of the museum.

The museum is pretty impressive. My favorite gallery was a bunch of tin or pewter figurines in huge dioramas depicting the life of a Roman soldier. It also had plenty of informative plaques (in German), statues, Roman soldier shoes, and plenty more.

Outside there is an educational area where they bring the school kids and do all kinds of crafts and games to help teach them about the Romans. After that you can walk through more ruins–those of the baths and the barracks.

Experiencing the frontiers of the Roman Empire with a statue at the Limes Museum Aalen.

The Frontiers of the Roman Empire – Thoughts on the Limes Unesco World Heritage Site

All in all, it was a pretty nice exhibit at the limes museum aalen. We did drive out of town to see a Roman tower on the limes, but these were all recreations and not very interesting I must say.

The frontiers of the Roman Empire at the Limes Museum Aalen.

We’ve chased Roman ruins all over the globe. Here’s a few more you might be interested in:

Defending the Empire – Hadrian’s Wall

Morocco – Visiting Volubilis

Spain – Lugo Roman Wall

Israel – Checking Out the Roman Ruins of Caesarea

Tunisia – Bulla Regia

Turkey – Romping Through Roman Ankara

Conclusion

Have you been to the frontiers of the Roman Empire at the Limes Unesco World Heritage Site in Germany? If so, which sites, and if you went to more than one, which are the best? Tell us all about your experiences at the Roman wall in Germany in the comment section and be sure to visit if you spend the spring in Germany!

Author Bio: Corinne Vail is a travel photographer, food lover, and a perpetual traveler who has been travel writing for over 14 years. For many years she lived overseas in Germany, Japan, Turkey, South Korea, and the Netherlands teaching the children of the US. military. She’s visited over 90 countries, and she’s not stopping anytime soon.