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Hidden gem3rd – 5th c. ADFree

Burgus of Wallbach-Stelli

Römische Kleinfestung Wallbach-Stelli, Stelli

fort · Rheinfelden District, Aargau, Switzerland

What it is
The burgus of Wallbach-Stelli is a small late Roman fort on the Swiss bank of the Rhine near the German border, one of the stone strongpoints of the late Roman Rhine frontier; it has been fully excavated, conserved and partly rebuilt, and stands open by a wood.
What you’ll see
Of the three Roman watchtowers known at Wallbach, only the burgus at Stelli has been fully excavated, conserved and partly reconstructed (de.wikipedia).
Worth the trip?
If you are following the Rhine or visiting Augusta Raurica, yes, as a short stop: it is fully excavated and conserved, free and easy to reach. On its own it is a small ruin.
Getting there & cost
The burgus is in Wallbach, in the Fricktal on the High Rhine (de.wikipedia). A car park is mapped about 30 m away (OpenStreetMap).Free · No charge is published or mappedHours, tickets and parking
A square of low, neatly conserved stone walls on a gravel floor at the edge of a wood, with a lawn and a path in front.
The conserved walls of the small fort. · Photo: PantaRhei · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A small stone opening with a lintel set in a low wall of rough stones, overgrown with grass, with tall forest trees behind.
A window slit preserved complete, in the fort's wall. · Photo: Roland Zumbuehl · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A two-panel information board headed "Die römische Kleinfestung Wallbach-Stelli", with maps, a plan, photographs of the excavation and a reconstruction drawing.
The information board at the fort. · Photo: PantaRhei · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

What is there today

Of the three Roman watchtowers known at Wallbach, only the burgus at Stelli has been fully excavated, conserved and partly reconstructed (de.wikipedia). What you see is the square of its walls at the edge of the wood, with a window slit preserved complete, and an information board (Wikimedia Commons photographs). It was a massive, tower-like stone building with more of the character of a small fort than an ordinary watchtower: the finds point to at least two storeys, a wall-walk and a roofed light well, and it probably also served as a supply station for the neighbouring towers (de.wikipedia).

Is it worth the trip?

If you are following the Rhine or visiting Augusta Raurica, yes, as a short stop: it is fully excavated and conserved, free and easy to reach. On its own it is a small ruin.

Getting there

The burgus is in Wallbach, in the Fricktal on the High Rhine (de.wikipedia). A car park is mapped about 30 m away (OpenStreetMap). The ruins are tagged as open to the public, and no source publishes hours or a charge.

Visiting details

Opening hours
Open-air ruins; OpenStreetMap tags them access=yes, and no source publishes hours.
Tickets
No charge is published or mapped.
Parking
A car park about 30 m away (OpenStreetMap, way/30007784).

History

The burgus was part of the late antique Danube–Iller–Rhine frontier, which here protected the province of Maxima Sequanorum until the frontier troops had to withdraw from the Rhine in the early 5th century. Its plan resembles some of the burgi built at the same time on the Danube frontier in Austria and Hungary (de.wikipedia).

Nearby

  • A semicircle of stone seating rising in tiers above a level orchestra floor, framed by rough masonry walls, with trees on the slope above.

    Photo: Guido Radig · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons

    15 km · city · Liestal District, Basel-Landschaft

    Augusta Raurica

    The operator lists the open-air site, its protected monuments and an animal park as free, and the open-air site as open around the clock; fr.wikipedia puts the open-air sights at more than twenty.

  • Low conserved stone walls of a villa in a meadow, with a long strip of floor patterned in a white grid with circles running along one side towards a higher wall carrying a sign, and flowering trees behind.

    Photo: Umschattiger · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons

    17 km · villa · Liestal District, Basel-Landschaft

    Roman villa of Munzach

    The estate measured about 160 by 320 m.

  • A gravel passage between massive walls of squared stone leading into a grassy oval arena, with more walls and a grass bank on the far side and a row of poplars behind.

    Photo: Roland zh · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons

    26 km · fort · Brugg District, Aargau

    Vindonissa

    The Legionärspfad, run by Museum Aargau, is the way into the camp: eleven stations through its excavated sites, among them the amphitheatre, reconstructed legionaries' barracks, a gate, the baths and a Roman garden of 450 m² planted with some 40 species documented by archaeology (the operator).

Straight-line distances.

Sources

Every fact on this page comes from the records below, each used under the licence noted.

SourceLicence
Wikidata Q19362398CC0
OpenStreetMap node/1490575251ODbL
Wikipedia (de) — Burgus Wallbach-StelliCC BY-SA 4.0
KGS inventory 276 — Stelli, Teil der spätrömischen Rheinbefestigung (BABS)licence not recorded