Archeological Museum

The sun emerged this afternoon, reminding me that weather forecasts have been remarkably unreliable from Bayern to Baden-Wuerttemberg all summer and fall. By early evening, there was hardly a cloud to be seen.

After lunch, Elias and I walked through the sunny Altstadt to the Colombischloessle, which houses Freiburg's small but delectable Archeological Museum. The central attraction for us was the new exhibit on Technik, Militaer, Alltag: Roemisches Leben am Suedlichen Oberrhein ("Technology, Military, Daily Living: Roman life in the southern Upper Rhine region"). Elias has taken a keen interest in Roman civilization of late, and it felt good to supplement his copious knowledge with authentic objects and written explanations that were more carefully researched than the assorted Asterix and Obelix comics that have been his primary textbooks to date.

In addition to more formal displays, the exhibit included some kid-friendly hands-on pieces--a large iron "tumbler" lock and key, a wooden shield and brass helmet, a game of Terni Lapilli (Roman tic-tac-toe) played with glass pebbles on a wooden board--as well as ancient items displayed next to their modern equivalents (present-day plumbing next to impressively similar Roman pipes, a digital scale next to a replica metal balance, a porcelain sink next to fragments of a stone basin).

The museum also had several rooms on Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age (Celtic) history in southern Baden that left us duly awed. Down in the basement was a collection of Alemannic "Schaetze" (treasures) that included intricately filigreed jewelry and ornate belt buckles that would still be stylish today.