Trier, the Moselle city that once served as a Roman capital
A quiet wine town near Luxembourg with about 110,000 people was, in the 4th century, among the largest cities of the Roman Empire and a home of western emperors. Trier still carries that past: a black city gate, Constantine's throne hall and a bridge that traffic has crossed since the 2nd century.
Celtic Treveri lived in the valley before Rome subdued them in the 1st century BC and founded Augusta Treverorum around 16 BC, which is why Trier calls itself Germany's oldest city. It became capital of Belgic Gaul and, after Diocletian's reforms, of the prefecture overseeing much of the western empire. From 293 to 395 emperors kept a residence there, and its population reached around 75,000, perhaps 100,000. In 336 Constantine exiled Athanasius, patriarch of Alexandria, to the city.
The Franks took it in 459. Relics of Saint Matthias drew pilgrims, and the city's archbishops grew into prince-electors, one of seven who chose the Holy Roman Emperor. A university opened in 1473. Darker times followed: the Trier witch trials of 1581 to 1593, among the largest in Europe, reached the city in 1587. In the wars between France and the Habsburgs the city changed hands repeatedly, until France annexed it in 1794 and dissolved the electorate. Prussia took over in 1815, and three years later Karl Marx was born there.
The 20th century brought loss. The synagogue was looted on Kristallnacht in 1938 and later destroyed by bombing, and in June 1940 more than 60,000 British prisoners captured around Dunkirk were marched through on their way to camps. After heavy bombardment in 1944 the city joined the new state of Rhineland-Palatinate, reopened its cathedral in 1974 and celebrated 2,000 years in 1984.
Its monuments form a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Porta Nigra is the best-preserved Roman gate north of the Alps, and the Aula Palatina, 67 metres long, now serves as a Protestant church. Trier Cathedral holds the Holy Tunic, claimed as Jesus's robe, and St Matthias' Abbey keeps what is said to be the only apostle's tomb north of the Alps.
Source: Trier
