Daniel Richter

• Project area C2: Creative appropriation: A ‘different’ aesthetics in pre-modern architecture and the arts north of the Alps

The research project deals with the establishment and development of Roman stone architecture and building ornamentation in the Rhineland. The focus is on Cologne as the oldest colony in Germania and the military camps Vetera I, Bonna and Novaesium, which were monumentalized over time. Unlike in past research projects, the aim is to highlight idiosyncrasies and differences to Italic architecture. For Rhenish architecture is not to be understood as a simple attempt at imitation, but as a creation of its own aesthetics which developed in the course of the 1st century AD. The aim is to reconstruct the outward appearances of those sites in the Rhineland where Tiberius and Germanicus resided, Caligula and Agrippina the Younger grew up and Pliny the Elder gained his first experience as a young officer. Data on the appearance of these places will be gained by examining numerous building elements from the depositories of Cologne, Bonn and Xanten. Some of these fragments will be re-examined, others shall be documented and analyzed for the first time. Their chronological ordering and evaluation will make it possible to draw conclusions regarding connections, similarities and autonomy in comparison with other regions and provinces.