Römerburgus Oberranna

To get in the mood for our trip to Rome, we went to the Roman Limes on the Danube. In Oberranna (Engelhartszell), the Romans increasingly built small, particularly solid fortifications from the end of the 3rd century. This is why there is a quadriburgus in Oberranna. A quadriburgus is a special form of a small Roman fort with a square floor plan and round towers at the corners. The Romans built this massive small fortification on the Danube Limes around 1700 years ago. It is the only Roman building of its kind in Austria. Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus (Vegetius for short), a war theorist and author active in the late 4th century, writes that such a fort is called a "burgus". The derivation of our modern high German word "castle" from "burgus" is obvious in view of such impressive ruins. The quadriburgus of Oberranna is by far the best preserved Roman building in Upper Austria. It was probably three storeys high and over 10 meters high. Four round towers with diameters of 8-10 m are attached to the corners of an almost square core building (approx. 18 x 18 m), bringing the external dimensions of the complex to approx. 28 x 28 m. Four pillars formed a small open atrium and supported the interior structure, which was mainly made of wood. Interestingly, objects were discovered during the excavations that are older than the Quadriburgus itself, which suggests that there may have been a previous building on this site. The building was destroyed by fire in Roman times, although the exact cause of the fire has not yet been determined. The interior fittings, the intermediate ceilings and the roof structure burned down, collapsed into the building and left clear traces of fire in the lower part of the interior walls and the pillars of the building. Countless roof tiles literally smashed into the lime screed floors. Later the place was resettled and the rubble cone of the Roman fort was used as the foundation for a medieval building.