Martberg Mons Martis (DE)
The Martberg – Mart Mountain is looking out over the Moselle river at a height of 180 metres. This used to be a political and religious centre in the past. 100 BC, the mountain housed a stronghold, a so called Oppidum which was upgraded with a temple area in Roman Times.
The best days were in the 3rd century AD. By now, large parts of the original temple area are constructed again on top of the original foundations. Together with other buildings it presents that era and the way of life and believing of the Celts and Romans.
The archaeological open air museum is in hands of the Förderverein Pommerner Martberg e.V. presenting the extraordinary past of this mountain in an archaeology park with a hands on visitor experience. The new construction works imaging the Celto-Roman originals started in Winter 2003. The financing was a joint venture of the Land Rheinland-Pfalz, the Kreis Cochem-Zell, the Cultural Foundation Rheinland-Pfalz, the municipality Pommern and of course the Förderverein Martberg e.V.. Excavations are still ongoing.
The new buildings are not an exact reconstruction, partly due to lack of money – the goal is to give an overall image of the size and looks of an important sanctuary of those days. At this highest place on the mountain plateau, the temple is visible until in the Eifel and Hunsrück.
The temple’s main building, portico, adjacent buildings and surrounding temple as well as a Celtic living quarters are built since 2003. Some other buildings are recognisable only by their old foundations which in some cases have been marked with plants. The temple of the 3rd century AD was probably consecrated to Lenus-Mars and had a portico surrounding the temple area (60 x 70 metres). With its width of 4 metres it marked the border between the sacred and profane world. The temple itself had a tower like inner building of about 10 metres long and 9 metres tall. The portico was for processions, the interior for the priests. Predecessors of this temple go back to a few decades BC. Besides activities for day tourists, there are as well education programmes offered for schools. These include understanding of archaeological research as well as environmental education. Also, different smart games are available with children learning several Celtic related things. The programme takes a full day and includes grilling sausages and baking bread in the Celtic oven.
Picture by Förderverein Pommerner Martberg 1997 e.V.