Lower German Limes
The Lower German Limes (border line) forms the northern border of the Roman Empire. To guard this border, the Romans built a series of watchtowers, roads, waterworks and army camps along the Rhine. Consequently, the Limes runs not only across the Netherlands, but also through Germany, all the way past Bonn. This border existed for five centuries and its traces can still be found in the soil. This makes the Limes the largest archaeological monument in the Netherlands.
The Lower German Limes World Heritage Site comprises 19 archaeological sites in the Netherlands, spread across 12 municipalities in the provinces of Gelderland, Utrecht and South Holland. In some places, archaeological monuments have been resurrected by means of modern visualisations, for example at Park Matilo near Leiden, Fort Vechten in Utrecht, and Castellum Meinerswijk near Arnhem. In other places you can admire the actual remains, such as under the Grote Kerk church in Elst. In other places, the remains stay safely stored underground. Together with the Rhine river, these archaeological remains form a monumental frontier of both the past and present.
The Lower German Limes is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, which together span the entire Roman Empire. Some parts of these frontiers were already listed as World Heritage, namely: Hadrian's Wall in England, the Antoine Wall in Scotland and the Upper German-Raetian Limes in Germany. At the same time as the Lower German Limes, the Danube Limes was also recognised as a World Heritage Site.
The Lower German Limes through the Netherlands and Germany became a World Heritage Site in 2021.
www.romeinen.nl