Main street and main gate (Via et Porta Praetoria)

Vindonissa Museum

Permanent exhibition on Vindonissa

https://www.museumaargau.ch/en/vindonissa-museum/event/permanent-exhibition-on-vindonissa

Admission: Museum entrance fee Discover original objects from excavations! How did the Romans live 2,000 years ago on the territory of present-day Switzerland? What did they eat? What weapons and clothes did they wear? For more than 100 years, archaeologists in the Brugg/Windisch area have been researching the site where the only legionary camp on the territory of present-day Switzerland once stood. Largest collection of Roman writing tablets The Vindonissa Museum shows original objects from these excavations in its permanent exhibition. It presents life and everyday routines in the legionary camp

Wildegg Castle

Museum forest

https://www.museumaargau.ch/en/wildegg-castle/event/museum-forest

Museum forest Price Entrance free Location The museum forest is located above the playground near Wildegg Castle. 0 Forest use in the 18th and early 19th centuries The museum forest at Wildegg Castle shows how forests were used in the 18th and early 19th centuries: as a larder, source of wood, grazing land and hunting ground. At the heart of the museum forest is the wood pasture. In early and late summer, goats graze here, just as they did 200 years ago. Guided tours and workshops bring this historical use of the forest to life and shed light on the highly topical issues of biodiversity and

Wettingen Abbey

Observatory

https://www.museumaargau.ch/en/wettingen-abbey/event/observatory

Permanent exhibition Admission Museum entrance fee Take a journey through the history of knowledge and belief At the Observatory, take a journey through the history of knowledge and belief in a cinematic installation. Together with a group of pupils from Wettingen Cantonal School, you will visit places that tell this story: from the earliest known cave paintings to the vastness of the World Wide Web. On this journey, you will discover how the monks of the Cistercian abbey understood knowledge in the Middle Ages – and how the expulsion of the monks from the abbey in 1841 was linked to new concepts

Wettingen Abbey

Medicinal garden

https://www.museumaargau.ch/en/wettingen-abbey/event/medicinal-garden

Admission Free of charge Tradition of monastic healing Today, medicinal herbs, spices, flowers and also certain vegetables grow in the medicinal garden of Wettingen Abbey. The garden showcases the long tradition of monastic medicine. The original location and design of the medicinal garden are not known in detail. It is assumed that, as in comparable abbey complexes, the Wettingen garden was located by the infirmary wing. The garden has been reconstructed at this location, based on the Hortulus book on gardening by the Reichenau abbot Walahfrid Strabo and the St. Gallen abbey plan from the 9th

Wettingen Abbey

Cloister garden

https://www.museumaargau.ch/en/wettingen-abbey/event/cloister-garden

Admission Museum entrance fee Idyllic garden in the heart of the abbey complex Experience a special monastic atmosphere in the cloister garden of Wettingen Abbey: the idyllic garden with its meadow, yew tree, water basin and path is located within the abbey walls and surrounded by the cloister quadrangle. Throughout the ages, the cloister garden was designed as a spiritual garden with a central solitary tree. In monastic culture, the tree is reminiscent of the forbidden tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden. On the other hand, it stands for life, as a symbol of Christ and the cross. Today's

Wettingen Abbey

Convent garden

https://www.museumaargau.ch/en/wettingen-abbey/event/convent-garden

Admission Free of charge English park, kitchen garden and plane tree avenue Discover secluded spots in the convent garden of Wettingen Abbey and stroll through the historic kitchen garden. A walk through the avenue, with its 200-year-old plane trees, is unforgettable. The convent garden – one of the first landscape gardens in Switzerland – extends from the abbey over three terraces down to the Limmat river. Fruit trees, a vineyard, a vegetable garden and a grotto invite you to stay a while. English park On the top terrace is the landscape garden designed according to the English model. The park is

Wettingen Abbey

Abbot's house

https://www.museumaargau.ch/en/wettingen-abbey/event/abbots-house

Permanent exhibition Admission Entrance free 0 Stately summer residence The stately abbot's house is situated to the south-west of the abbey, near the river Limmat. You can reach it by walking from the north through the front garden, which has been laid out in the traditional style. Built in 1726 by Abbot Alberich Beusch, the abbot's house served as a summer residence for him and his successors and as a place to receive guests. On the upper floor of the abbot's house, you'll find yourself in a charming living and study area, furnished with period pieces. An animated film projected onto the panelled

Wettingen Abbey

Abbot's garden

https://www.museumaargau.ch/en/wettingen-abbey/event/abbots-garden

Admission Free of charge Stately summer residence of the head of the abbey Stroll through the abbot's garden at Wettingen Abbey, and imagine how the abbot once received his guests here. The garden extends over three terraces. Stone steps, walls, perennial beds and trellises give the "Gnädig-Herren-Garten" (as it is also called in Wettingen sources) a Mediterranean flair. The abbot's garden (or prelate's garden) was moved several times in the history of the abbey. At one time it was even located on the small island in the Limmat, until it was laid out at its present location as the garden of

Wettingen Abbey

Parlatorium

https://www.museumaargau.ch/en/wettingen-abbey/event/parlatorium

Discussion Lab Admission Museum entrance fee Registration Not required (recommended for schools) Hundreds of questions in one room Built around 1600, the Parlatorium was one of the few rooms in the abbey where speaking was once permitted. Today, Museum Aargau invites visitors here to engage in conversation about faith, power and knowledge – and poses hundreds of questions on these topics. Choose one of them and embark on a journey of discovery through the Parlatorium: through conversation, play, or via interactive text, image and film installations. The exhibition was developed in collaboration

Wettingen Abbey

Cloister

https://www.museumaargau.ch/en/wettingen-abbey/event/cloister

Permanent exhibition Admission Museum entrance fee 0 A place of meditation with a significant series of stained-glass windows The well-preserved cloister, with its Romanesque and Gothic tracery, evokes the tranquillity that once characterised life within these walls. Small gravestones of monks buried here are set into the flagstone floor. At the heart of the cloister lies the idyllic cloister garden. The cycle of stained-glass windows in the cloister is particularly valuable. Private donors, friendly abbeys and the Swiss cantons have all donated these significant cabinet windows to Wettingen Abbey

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The most important gateway in a military camp was the Porta Praetoria. The main street starting at the gate (via praetoria) lead in a straight line to the legion's headquarters (principia), the administrative and religious centre of the camp. The legion commander's palace (praetorium) was situated on the same road. When the soldiers were required to go to war, they left the camp in orderly formation through the Porta Praetoria.

At Vindonissa, the Porta Praetoria was some 13 to 15 metres high and was built in stone by the 11th legion. It had two side towers that were rectangular in layout, like the North Gate, and it comprised a wooden superstructure. The passage through the gateway was spanned by a bridge at the height of the battlements so as to be able to deploy guards. The camp wall (vallum) encompassing the entire legionary camp was joined directly onto the side of the gateway. The camp wall was 12 Roman feet (approx. 3.6 metres) wide and reinforced at regular intervals with fortified towers. In front of it was a V-shaped ditch (fossa) as an obstacle to approaching enemies.

The Via Praetoria led straight from the South Gate to the North Gate of the camp and comprised a thick, compact gravel layer which remains excellently preserved after 2,000 years. Rain water was collected from the roofs and drained by means of stone gulleys by the roadside. Legionary Trail visitors can still see the stone column bases of the pergolas which once ran along the Roman road.

This roman site can be visited without museum admission.

Permanent exhibition on Vindonissa

Museum forest

Observatory

Medicinal garden

Cloister garden

Convent garden

Abbot's house

Abbot's garden

Parlatorium

Cloister

Roman sites

Main street and main gate (Via et Porta Praetoria)

Main street and main gate (Via et Porta Praetoria)

The South Gate or Porta Praetoria was the most prestigious in every legionary camp. From here the main street led directly to legion command. This roman site can be visited without museum admission.