What stories do these stones whisper from ages past? Here at the Lapidarium, we find ourselves surrounded by silent witnesses to the Roman era. They stand as testaments to the passage of time.
The Lapidarium in Durlach holds a special place in history. Markgraf Friedrich VI of Baden-Durlach started collecting Roman milestones and monuments in the 17th century. Like other German nobles, he rediscovered the art of antiquity. He was also known as a great lover of gardens.
A special parterre was created in the royal pleasure garden to house these stones. This space was called the Lapidarium. The open-air collection likely held a central place in the garden. A plan from the 18th century shows the parterre as a rectangle in the garden’s center. A hedge separated it from the rest of the garden. Entering through an opening in the hedge, visitors saw a fountain in the center. The fountain marked the middle of a path crossing through four flowerbeds. The Roman stones stood along the hedge.
In the early 19th century, the collection included 13 memorial stones, milestones, and Viergöttersteine. The exact origins of these stones remain a mystery. One stone was supposedly embedded in the church of Remchingen before coming into the possession of the Markgraf. Over time, some stones were used as building blocks.
Today, the Durlach Lapidarium displays four stones. They are fragments of Viergöttersteine from the 2nd century AD. These were bases for Jupitergigantensäulen. These columns honored the Roman ruler Jupiter. The columns stood at prominent locations across the Roman Empire. The stones depict important gods. These include Juno, Mars, Mercury, and Minerva.
The Markgrafs of Durlach seemed to greatly value the demigod Hercules. In the second half of the 17th century, a bronze Hercules fountain stood alongside the stone figures. Hercules symbolized strength, courage, and willpower in ancient mythology. Many rulers of the time liked to associate themselves with these traits.
The Lapidarium remained in the Durlach Palace Gardens for a long time. Later Markgrafs and Grand Dukes lost interest in the Durlach Palace Gardens. They focused on Karlsruhe. Yet in the early 19th century, the stones still stood in their original places.
Exposure to weather and frost threatened the stones. Many Durlach citizens and politicians lost sight of the collection’s importance. The Antiquities Association worked to secure the stones. In 1854, authorities dissolved the Durlach Lapidarium. All the stones went to the antiquities collection in Karlsruhe. Later, the collection joined relief stones from Baden-Baden in the present-day Natural History Museum.
The memorial stones and milestones collected by Markgraf Friedrich VI of Durlach are the oldest collection of Roman stones found in northern Baden. They later became part of the Baden State Museum. The stones are occasionally displayed in special exhibitions.
A memorial stone from the 18th century adds to the Durlach Lapidarium. It honors a child who died young. The child’s name suggests that the child was one of the many illegitimate descendants of Karlsruhe’s founder, Markgraf Karl Wilhelm. Other tombstones from this period are at the Nikolauskapelle near the Basler Tor. These stones offer a glimpse into the lives and beliefs of those who came before us. They connect us to the past.