Gallo-Roman Museum Tongeren

The Gallo-Roman Museum stands in Tongeren, in the province of Limburg in the Flemish Region of Belgium, a town founded by the Romans as Atuatuca Tungrorum in the early first century CE. Tongeren is generally regarded as the oldest city in Belgium and served as the administrative centre of the Civitas Tungrorum within the province of Germania Inferior. The Roman writer Pliny the Elder mentioned a famous spring here, and Julius Caesar wrote about the Eburones tribe, whose leader Ambiorix is commemorated by a statue on the town's main square. The town prospered in the first to third centuries, with a forum, temples, baths and a defensive wall about 4.5 kilometres long built in the second century. After the late Roman and Frankish periods, Tongeren became a centre of early Christianity in the region. The museum, located a short distance from the Roman wall remains, was founded in the 20th century and moved into a modern building in 2001, with further renovation in later years. Its permanent exhibition follows the story of the Roman presence in the region chronologically and thematically, from the Iron Age through the Roman conquest and daily life to the end of the empire. Displays include jewellery, pottery, glass, tools, military equipment, coins, tombstones and reconstructed interiors, together with a major archaeological collection from excavations in Tongeren and the surrounding Haspengouw region. Models, films and interactive elements bring the Roman landscape to life. Outside the museum, visitors can walk to sections of the Roman wall, the remains of a Roman temple and the Basilica of Our Lady, which stands on earlier Roman foundations. The museum is well kept and an important centre for archaeological research.