Römische Baureste am Hof

Römische Baureste Am Hof

The Roman building remains on Am Hof form part of the rich collection of Roman antiquities from the legionary fortress and the civilian settlement of Roman Vindobona. In the basement of the present-day fire brigade headquarters you can see a piece of the settlement’s main sewage pipe.

This part of the sewage system probably collected effluence from the southern part of the fortress and led it into the Tiefer Graben (ditch) and further to the Ottakringerbach (stream). The pipe followed the wall on the inside of the legionary fortress, leading directly under the wall road, the Via Sagularis. The channel bed is lined with roof tiles (so-called grooved tiles, tegulae). Two tiles are placed in the centre of the pipe with the grooves next to each other. The tiles are stamped, bearing the stamp of the XIII Legion in the form of a table (tabula ansata), as can be seen in the exhibited example. The centurion’s initials are inscribed at the end of the stamp; he supervised production of the tiles.

The pipe walls have not been preserved at any point in their original height of around 1.80 metres. The top was flat and covered with slabs. Stone grids were added at regular intervals. The openings were rosette-shaped with a raised boss in the middle. A cement cast is on display in one corner of the room, probably part of the sewage system of the fortress’s main street (via principalis).

Closed until further notice owing to restoration work!