Continued From Vindonissa Part II
Out the southwest exit of the cemetery onto a small unnamed street that connects with Dorfstrasse to the south, and then just a minute or so west down Dorfstrasse (about 60 meters), is the culina centurionis, the officer’s kitchen. It’s a bit hidden if you aren’t looking in the right place, but it’s essentially at the first marked cross walk coming from the cemetery, on the north side of Dorfstrasse. The painted legionary standard on the sidewalk marks the location. This is another site that requires the entrance ticket, there’s a small staircase down to the archaeological area below the present-day ground level. As such, it is open the same hours as the rest of the ticketed attractions for the Legionärspfad Vindonissa.
The so-called officer’s kitchen is part of a private house within the base that was likely occupied by an officer stationed at the camp, perhaps the primus pilus. The location along the via principalis and adjacent to the camp headquarters, as well as the large size (1100 square meters) have led to this identification. It seems to have been constructed around 70 CE. There are a few rooms and areas preserved, though the central area is identified as a kitchen through the finding of food related items as well as the form. Terracotta tile countertops and other structures associated with a kitchen area visible. An additional room and part of a room are interconnected to north of the kitchen, though neither appears to have a verified use. On the south is a hallway and the rear wall of a taberna that would have faced out onto the via principalis. On the east of the kitchen is another hallway area connected to a small vestibule area connected to the kitchen. There are a couple information boards and diagrams of the house on-site.
Continuing west down Dorfstrasse, the next left (south) turn is Scheuergasse. Heading south on Scheuergasse, after about 140 meters is Wallweg leading to the east. Just a few meters down Wallweg, on the north side of the street is the porta praetoria, the primary southern entrance of the camp. This is an open access area. Nothing of the actual gate remains visible, not even the foundations, (the excavations were backfilled) but a large metal replica of the gate has been constructed over the spot. What has been excavated and displayed here, however, is a section of the via praetoria (viewable through a glass enclosure), the main north-south road in the camp. The compact gravel that formed the foundation of the road as well as drainage channels on either side of the road remain. A few column bases also line along the sides of the road. There’s a little bit of information about the gate and the excavations as well as some general information about the military camp in French, German, Italian, and English on site.
The last stop on the Legionärspfad Vindonissa is a few blocks to the west, about a 5-minute walk from the porta praetoria. At Lindhofstrasse 2 is a multistory building, the SanaVita Lindenpark. The second door on the east side of the building, marked by one of the legionary standards painted on the pavement and a small information column, leads into an archaeological area. This is another ticketed entrance site, and is open the same hours as the rest of the ticketed sites on the trail. Inside this building is small section of the 2.4-kilometer aqueduct channel that brought water to the Roman fort. Some water is still running through this section of the aqueduct and apparently still supplies a fountain north of the reconstructed legionary barracks. The aqueduct itself remained in use as a source of fresh water for Windisch until the end of the 19th century CE.
The aqueduct wraps up the Legionärspfad Vindonissa and the archaeological remains of the main fortress area, but there are a couple more stops in Brugg, north of the train station. Located at Museumstrasse 1 is the Museum Vindonissa. Unlike the Legionärspfad Vindonissa, the museum is open year-round; Tuesday through Friday and Sunday from 13:00 to 17:00. It is closed on Monday and Saturday. Admission is 10 CHF, but it can be combined with the Legionärspfad Vindonissa for 18 CHF and the monastery for 24 CHF.
The museum is a bit small, but it has some very nice pieces in the collection. Included among these are wood and leather objects, which don’t survive in large quantities at most sites, so those alone add an interesting dimension to the collection. There are a number of wood bases for wax writing tablets that have visible impressions from writing in the wax; apparently the largest existing collection of this type. The content of these wooden tablets seems to mostly be lists of names and units for the soldiers stationed at Vindonissa. Other wooden objects in the collection include wooden shoe soles as well as utensils and spigots. There are a few leather objects; the sole of a shoe and shield covers, one of which has the name of Legio XI Claudia Pia Fidelis (abbreviated as CPF) on it.
Other highlights included decorated scabbards, a part of a shield with decoration on it (traced to Legio VIII Augusta, which is part of the evidence that suggests a detachment from Legio VIII Augusta was stationed there in the early 2nd century CE after the departure of Legio XI Claudia Pia Fidelis). A votive collection that includes small bronze statuettes, bronze reliefs, stone inscriptions, and inscribed bronze tabulae. Though not noted as having any relationship, a large vessel adorned with snakes bears some resemblance to other vessels related to the Mithras cult. As one might expect from excavations of a military camp, there’s other objects associated with the army such as helmets, buckles and other accoutrements for military uniforms, and weapons, military diplomas. Stamped tiles bearing the markings of legions. There is a little bit of decorated glass, some inscribed tokens, coins, and a nice decorated lamps collection. A few inscriptions are on display that contain the names of legions that were stationed at Vindonissa, though the overall number of inscriptions here is surprisingly low. Even a few pieces of wall painting appear in the museum.
Overall, it’s a pretty good collection. It took me about an hour and a half to get through it all together. There isn’t any English in the object descriptions, but there is a book of English descriptions available. It’s helpful, but rather than using a numbering system to correlate the objects with their description (which would seemingly be the most orderly manner), they use a German title system which is a bit less efficient. Some objects did not seem to have corresponding entries in the English descriptions, and other descriptions didn’t seem to have corresponding objects (at least not in the sections they were listed to be in). I can’t fault them for making an effort they didn’t necessarily have to make, and there is a lot of useful information in the guide. It’s overall a very good museum.
The final remnant of ancient Vindonissa is about a 15-minute walk west from the museum (1.1 kilometers), mostly along Museumstrasse (the street that passes in front of the museum, but then turns west) and then Altenburgerstrasse. Located at about Im Hof 11, incorporated into the southwest wall of the Schloss Altenburg and the youth hostel that occupies part of the grounds, is apparently part of the wall from the smaller castrum that was built in the 3rd century CE to the west of the main fortress. The previous fortress had been occupied by the civilian settlement after the departure of the legions around 101 CE, and so this smaller castrum was built after the re-establishment of the military presence at Vindonissa.
It took me about 5 hours total to see all of ancient Vindonissa. Pretty much everything is walkable, so it does make for a good day trip via public transportation from Zurich or Basel. Though it does leave out a couple of interesting stops (the later castrum wall and tower from the east side of the fortifications), generally the Legionärspfad Vindonissa is pretty well organized. The path marked out by the painted images on the pavement is a great feature. There were a couple of sites (the officer’s kitchen and the aqueduct channel, specifically) that I would have struggled to find without those markers. Even with the markers, it took me a minute to find them; unless you’re focused on the ground, they can slip by you at times.
Sources:
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Schwartz, Peter-Andrew, Nikolas Hächler, and Beat Näf. Mauren Gegen Migration?, Regensburg: Verlag Schnell & Steiner GmbH, 2020.
Smith, William. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. Walton & Murray, 1870.
Southern, Patricia. The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine, Routledge, 2001.
Stillwell, Richard, William L. MacDonald, and Marian Holland. McAllister. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites. Princeton, NJ: Princeton U Press, 1976.
Tacitus. Historiae, 4.61.
Trumm, Jürgen. “The Fortress of Vindonissa”, Strategy and Structures Along the Roman Frontier, Leiden: Sidestone Press, 2024.
Trumm, Jürgen. “Vindonissa”, Historiches Lexikon der Schweiz, Basel: Schwabe, 2014.