Carnuntum and Museum Carnuntinum
Carnuntum is important as a Danube complex where the museum, archaeological park and reconstructed buildings work together. For this is especially useful because the displayed object, excavated plan and modern reconstruction can be compared.
The complex is connected with a legionary base, civilian town, trade, baths, houses, amphitheatres and the Danube frontier. Museum Carnuntinum complements the park with objects and epigraphy, preventing reconstructed buildings from becoming a self-contained image.
Carnuntum and Museum Carnuntinum: Open air museum Petronell - House of Lucius Maticeius Clemens (interior).
Carnuntum and Museum Carnuntinum: Römischer Meilenstein Museum Carnuntinum.
Carnuntum and Museum Carnuntinum: Carnuntum Museum Carnuntinum.Collection and Historical Context
Carnuntum should not be used as a ready model for any Roman settlement. Its value lies in the combination of Danube context, a large excavated complex and public reconstruction that must be checked against archaeology.
Work with this museum requires three levels to be kept separate: display, catalogue and archaeological context. The display shows the object's form and scale, the catalogue clarifies date, material, inventory number and collection history, while context explains whether the object came from a house, cemetery, sanctuary, fort, workshop or urban monument.
A single famous exhibit is not always typical. Series are more reliable: several vessels of one type, a group of inscriptions, a funerary assemblage, repeated military fittings or several related sculptural solutions. Carnuntum and Museum Carnuntinum should therefore be read not only through its most famous objects, but through the links between galleries, collections and findspots.
Display and Main Materials
Military and civilian finds, inscriptions, everyday objects, bath, house and sanctuary material, and the museum's explanation of reconstructions deserve attention. It is important to mark where the evidence ends and modern interpretation begins.
In the museum display it is important to look not only at individual masterpieces but at the neighbourhood of objects: sculpture, inscriptions, pottery, coins, architectural fragments and everyday items often explain one another better than an isolated photograph.
Limestone statue of Jupiter Dolichenus, around AD 200-230, Carnuntum Archaeological Museum, Austria. Object from the collection: Carnuntum and Museum Carnuntinum.
Limestone relief (left) and marble statue (right) of Jupiter Dolichenus, Antonine-Severan period, Carnuntum Archaeological Museum, Austria. Object from the collection: Carnuntum and Museum Carnuntinum.
Limestone relief of Jupiter Dolichenus, AD 175-185, Carnuntum Archaeological Museum, Austria. Object from the collection: Carnuntum and Museum Carnuntinum.Related Topics
- Museums of Antiquity
- Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier
- Mainz Museums of Antiquity
- Roman Archaeological Sources
Official Pages and Catalogues
MC - Herkules Statue. Object from the collection: Carnuntum and Museum Carnuntinum.
MC - Iuno Relief. Object from the collection: Carnuntum and Museum Carnuntinum.
Schwarzafrikaner Bronze, Badekultur 2. Jh., südl. Zivilstadt. Object from the collection: Carnuntum and Museum Carnuntinum.
MC - Medusa. Object from the collection: Carnuntum and Museum Carnuntinum.
Jupiter dolichenus statuette Carnuntum. Object from the collection: Carnuntum and Museum Carnuntinum.
02023 0451 Mithraic relief, Carnuntum, 2nd-4th-century, marble. Object from the collection: Carnuntum and Museum Carnuntinum.
Mithraic relief (MAK- 3475). Object from the collection: Carnuntum and Museum Carnuntinum.
Roman coin: Copy (Limesfalschung) of a dupondius of Commodus. Object from the collection: Carnuntum and Museum Carnuntinum.
Funerary stele of Lucius Gavidius (CIL 03, 13482), a signifer (standard bearer) of Legio XV Apollinaris, mid 1st century AD, Carnuntum Archaeological Museum, Austria. Object from the collection: Carnuntum and Museum Carnuntinum.
Roman coin: probable limesfalsum of an as of Severus Alexander. Object from the collection: Carnuntum and Museum Carnuntinum.
MC - Amor Statuette. Object from the collection: Carnuntum and Museum Carnuntinum.
MC - Jupiter Inschrift. Object from the collection: Carnuntum and Museum Carnuntinum.Interested in Ancient Rome beyond reading? Join Legio X Fretensis or explore our reenactment directions.
