Model of Later Roman Trier

Trier (Augusta Treverorum) was the Capital of the Western Provinces of the Roman Empire in the 3rd Century and the residence of the Emperors Constantine, Gratian and Valentinian II.

This model which took 10 years to build is in the Landesmuseum in Trier, and shows the complete Roman city, with hippodrome, amphitheatre, and visible here the Aula Palatina (see yesterday's blip) and the large Cathedral - both of which remarkably survive.

In the foreground is the other astonishing survival of that Imperial Period - the so-called Porta Nigra, the triumphal gate of the City facing north east towards the Rhine Frontier.