UNESCO World Heritage Sites TrierWelcome to Trier – the centre of antiquity

Nowhere else north of the Alps can you experience the Roman Age as authentically as you can in Trier. Here you will find the centre of antiquity in Germany.

Trier is the oldest city in Germany, founded in 17 BCE as Augusta Treverorum, and was once one of the largest metropolises of the Roman Empire. In late antiquity the flourishing trading city became an Imperial residence, and was thus elevated to an administrative centre of the Imperium Romanum.

The cityscape of Trier is still characterised today by monumental buildings dating from ancient times, with some of them amongst the best-preserved of their kind. In 1986, the Dom and the Liebfrauenkirche were included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites together with seven further Roman buildings: the Porta Nigra, the Kaiserthermen, the Amphitheater, the Römerbrücke, the Barbarathermen, the Konstantin-Basilika, and the “Igeler Säule”, which is in the nearby Igel district.


In Trier you can experience antiquity with every step you take, for example at the Rheinisches Landesmuseum, one of the most important museums of Roman antiquity. The highlights here are the largest hoard of gold from Roman Imperial times, the largest collection of mosaics north of the Alps and “In the Realm of Shadows”, a unique multimedia show set amidst the huge Roman sepulchral monuments.

The Thermen am Viehmarkt offers visitors an insight into the history of the city of Trier from antiquity to modern times. But the Villa Otrang and the Klause Kastel a little way outside Trier are also well of interest, and bring history to life.

You will find all the information you need for your visit to Trier, the centre of antiquity in Germany, on this website.