Saalburg Roman Fortress Museum

Todays adventure took us to Saalburg Roman Fortress, part of a line of defence for the Roman Empire during the 1st and 2nd centuries against the hoards of Germanic hill tribes. 

We are staying a little south of Mainz ( in the middle of the map with the big red square) Probably where the E is in Germany. 

The red line shows the walled defences set up by the Romans, along with the garrisons and forts along the way. They really weren't mucking about. Despite all of this industrious pursuit, the line eventually fell and Rome was overtaken by the great unwashed hoards in the third century.

The museum was an excellent midway demonstration tool for the kids in their history lessons. We have focused on 1st and 2nd century Roman occupation of the UK, so it was great to put it into perspective in Europe and for the kids to see the map of what Rome once commanded.( The below map will show you - see the red line?  its pretty impressive)  I believe its extremely important to study the Roman Empire. After nearly 2 centuries since their collapse, their influences are still keenly felt in our own culture and society. The Roman Empires demise too, is something the kids and I will discuss at length when they are a little older and more interested in politics.

The fortress is probably the best restored and kept roman 'ruin' I've seen. I do understand that there was a little bit of recreation occur over the years, but its been done very sympathetically - and to be honest, after traipsing round mounds of rocks and bricks spread in random patterns and attempting to visualise it being a grand hall or some such thing; its kinda nice to see some walls.. and a roof, on a building.

Below are what is left of the cooking domes which would have ben part of the open air kitchens for the troops.

On one side of the fortress they kept the ruins, on the other they recreated the domes - and by the looks of it, they do demonstrations of how to use them . ( its still winter here , so not much interactivity is available. I understand that there are Roman Centurions on guard most of the time during the Summer.. wow.. that would have been cool to see.

It was very impressive to see the recreations of every day life throughout the fortress. The amount of details that the designers went into!  Above is one of the rooms - the Barracks, complete with stinky muddy shoes.

Just seeing the courtyards such as the one below, brings so many memories back of our trip through Italy and through the ruins - oh and the countless movies where there are sweaty muscly young men practising their sword fighting.. hmmm 

Grimm Brothers Museum

Gutenburg Press and Museum

We visited the Gutenburg press Museum today, a place which holds the oldest collection of the  history of printing and development of books as we know them.   I was impressed that they hold the development of printing from different cultures.  There are four floors of artefacts and items. We allowed two hours, but this was def not enough time to see everything and take in the astounding inventions which changed the face of the written word.

Johann Gutenburg invented the moveable printing press 500 years ago, something that revolutionised the speed and accuracy of spreading the written word amongst the literate.  Of course, at the time, about the only thing that was distributed was the bible, which until his invention came around had to be hand printed, page by page, but monks with a squint.

Its incredible to think that with this one invention, it revolutionised the entire world. Economically and socially, the advent of a printing press allowed the spread of literature and learning, paving the way for the modern world.  The increase of literacy bolstered up the middle class, ensuring that learning was no longer held exclusively by the upper and royal classes. 

The photo above is of a hymn book from the 15th century. That blows my head off.. So beautiful.

Something I hadn't realised is that although every Gutenburg bible was printed exactly the same - each was individual and unique. The margins and paragraph letters and colouring were drawn and painted in by monks to order. 

An example of the intricate designs painted in medieval bibles. 

Morgan and Lilly were lucky enough to be chosen to help out with the one of the old ( 300 years old) printing presses. 

Here they are pulling the press downward onto the metal casted letters. 

Here is the finished product, which we were given to take home - W00T!!