LUXEMBOURG - Europe by Eurail 2015: Touring Europe by Train - page 392

ary-February: 1000-1700 Monday-Saturday, 1000-1300 Sunday; March-April:
0900-1800 Monday-Saturday, 1000-1500 Sunday
Notes: Money exchange is available in the tourist office, which is about a
10-minute walk from the rail station, or there is a taxi stand at the right-hand front
of the station. On foot, proceed down Bahnhofstrasse, which runs from the station
into Theodor-Heuss-Allee leading to the Porta Nigra. Located immediately in back
of the Porta Nigra monument. Walking tip: Avoid the din of traffic by using the park
pathways on the left of the main thoroughfare.
Welcome to Germany's oldest city! “Before Rome, there was Trier.” Although this
is legend, it is also a historical fact. Evidence of human settlements as early as the
third century B.C. has been discovered in and around the city of Trier. Further le-
gend attributes the founding of Trier in 2000 B.C. to the Assyrians. But history more
soberly attributes its roots to Emperor Augustus, who founded (or refounded) Trier
in 16 B.C. , thereby beginning Trier's role in Roman history.
In A.D. 293 Trier became the capital of Rome's province of Belgica Prima and the
seat of the emperor's court. History records that no fewer than six Roman emper-
ors held court here. The city's population swelled to about 80,000 citizens, and its
cultural growth kept pace with its expanding population. Many magnificent edifices
and archaeological finds attest to this growth today.
Trier came to be known as the second Rome. By the end of the third century A.D. ,
it had become a capital of the western part of the Roman Empire. Its many monu-
ments from that time attest to its greatness. The fourth-century Roman cathedral
has among its treasures the “Holy Robe,” said to have belonged to Christ. In an-
cient Roman records, Trier was among the first places north of the Alps to bear the
name of “city.”
Trier's pedestrian zone begins at the town's northern edge with its prize posses-
sion—the Roman gateway building, the Porta Nigra (Black Gate), built in A.D. 200.
Known as the “northern gate of the Roman Empire,” it takes its name from the dark
patina that formed over its sandstone facade. It was transformed into a church dur-
ing the 11th century, but Napoleon restored the building to its original appearance
in 1804. Other Roman ruins still remaining are the Barbara Baths ( A.D. 150), the
Imperial Baths ( A.D. 300), the Forum Baths ( A.D. 100), the core of the Cathed-
ral ( A.D. 330/380), the Amphitheater ( A.D. 100), and a bridge crossing the Moselle
River.
Trier fell to the Franks in the fifth century, but the city's life did not end. During
the thousand years that followed, churches, monasteries, convents, and mansions
were built literally on top of, and around, its ancient structures. A cross, erected in