Grutenhäuschen (Roman Tomb)
Igel
In the heart of the vineyards near Igel, you can see a burial temple dating from Late Antiquity. A beautiful location for a final resting place, on what was once a far busier Roman road. Who was buried here? Perhaps the owner of the large estate that was in the valley. The lower level was used to bury bodies and sarcophagi were found there, possibly arranged like Roman dining couches at a feast. Such was the case at a similar burial temple in Trier at least. Today, the room stands empty and was still being used as a vineyard cottage up until the turn of the millennium. The upper floor has been reconstructed. In Antiquity, it was a worthy place to remember the dead. Today, you can have a civil wedding between the columns overlooking the beautiful view.
The Igel Column is also on the same Roman road as the Grutenhäuschen. The column burial monument in the centre of Igel tells of the everyday life of a rich family of cloth merchants and is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Just go and see it.
A station on the Roman roads.
