'Valentinian I and the Palatinate in Late Antiquity' at the Historisches Museum der Pfalz Speyer, Germany

The exhibition “Valentinian I and the Palatinate in Late Antiquity” will draw attention to a period that had a major impact on the region. While Late Antiquity is generally – and often unjustly – considered a period of decadence and decline, archeological evidence in the Palatinate paints a different picture of this eventful period.

Portrait of Valentinian I [Credit: Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Kopenhagen/
O. Haupt/Historisches Museum der Pfalz Speyer]

Current research findings attest a densely settled region with numerous larger and smaller cities, fortified settlements and farms that resembled truly magnificent villas.

Gold solidus of Valentinian I (321-375) [Credit: Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen Mannheim,
 Daniel Franz; Historisches Museum der Pfalz Speyer]

The Palatinate briefly experienced an economic and cultural heyday that gradually came to an end, though, once Roman government collapsed in the 5th century A.D.

Reconstruction of the fortification of Noviomagus (Speyer) in the exhibition [Credit: Directorate General Cultural
Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate, State Archeology Speyer, Wolfgang Himmelmann; Historical Museu]

A collaborative partnership with the Generaldirektion Kulturelles Erbe Rheinland-Pfalz (GDKE), Direktion Landesarchäologie, Aussenstelle Speyer and Ruprecht-Karls-Universität’s Heidelberg Heidelberg Center for Cultural Heritage (HCCH) is additionally making it possible to incorporate the latest research findings and current excavation results, some of which will be displayed to the public and presented in the companion publication for the first time ever.

The exhibition will run until August 11, 2019.

Source: Historisches Museum der Pfalz Speyer [May 30, 2019]