| Amphitheater |  |
| Not much remains of the amphitheatre where some 13,000 spectators came to watch bloody entertainments, animal hunts, gladiatorial clashes or executions of prisoners. Today, picnic tables stand near the "door of the living" through which the survivors left the arena. |
| Bronze model of the ancient city | |
| Between the museum and the theatre you will see a superb bronze model of the ancient city. It offers an impressive and very detailed view of Augusta Raurica, a Roman city built after the first Roman invasion of Germania by Julius Caesar, at the request of the inhabitants of the region threatened by the Germanic leader Ariovistus. |
| Curia | |
| The curia was the town hall, where sat the council of decurions, consisting of 100 municipal councillors including two mayors. The curia was the local equivalent of the Roman senate and its members were highly regarded. In the basement there was a cellar which nowadays houses beautiful mosaics. |
| Forum | |
| Behind the theatre is the forum, which was the political, economic, administrative, legal and religious centre of the city. Only a few vestiges of its former splendour remain, including this magnificent pillar of victory. |
| Grienmatt Sanctuary | |
| Only the lower part of the building core is preserved and no one knows what the sanctuary originally looked like, except that it comprised a large central rectangular square surrounded by porticoes and that a bathhouse was attached to it. Different from the usual Roman baths, they were probably used for medicinal cures under the direction of healing priests. |
| Lapidary | |
| Next to the Roman house, the lapidary displays a collection of statues and sculptures selected from the most important and significant pieces of the archaeological site. |
| Roman villa | |
| The Roman house is a reproduction of a Pompeii villa and allows you to immerse yourself in the past. A wealthy family's property, it has an inner courtyard with a garden and peristyle, a banqueting hall, private baths, bedrooms, workshops, and of course a kitchen. The rooms facing the street were occupied by shops and workshops, including a butcher's shop with smokehouses, a forge and a bronze foundry. |
| Schönbühl Forest | |
| The small forest on the edge of the Schönbühl hill is one of two places on the archaeological site where you can have a picnic and even a barbecue. The other is further out in the countryside, in the ruins of the amphitheatre. |
| Schönbühl Temple | |
| Facing the theatre, the Schönbühl hill was a religious area with several small temples, then around 70 AD a massive temple surrounded by columns, erected on a podium and probably dedicated to the emperor and Roman deities. Towards the end of the 3rd century, the temple was abandoned and some of the blocks were reused in other buildings. Today, only the centre of the podium remains, with cavities on the sides that indicate the former locations of the columns. |
| Tavern | |
| The tavern oven, which was discovered almost intact and is now restored, was built around 250 AD. At that time, the tavern was accessible from the street and it is likely that theatre-goers came here to eat. The tavern was surrounded by other buildings which have now disappeared and it had an upper floor where weapons and tools were found near the dresser, a room which was probably used as a repair shop or warehouse. |
| Theater (seen from stage) | |
| In the Augusta Raurica theatre, surprising acts in an ancient setting cross the stage, descend the temple steps or take place in the audience space. From theatre to rock, the traditional meets the experimental, the known meets the unknown, the déjà vu meets the unseen. |
| Theater (view from hill) | |
| Around 200 AD, the city had two different theatres: the amphitheatre, of which not much remains, and this well-restored stage theatre, which could seat 10,000 spectators. It is the best preserved Roman theatre north of the Alps and today it offers an impressive setting for many events. |
| Theatre (seen from top of stands) | |
| From the top of the stands, you can see how extraordinary the theatre of Augusta Raurica is as a venue for performances! |
