Jülich

On this dead straight section of the Via Belgica between Jülich and Cologne, the Roman town of Iuliacum (Jülich) was built in the marshy lowlands of the Rur. The civilian settlement, which was initially unfortified, covered about 13 hectares along the road. To this end, so-called strip houses were built to the right and left of the road from compacted gravel, narrow buildings with their gables facing the road. Individual rooms in these houses had underfloor heating (hypocaustum), and some of the walls were decorated with paintings. Some of the house fronts had covered sales areas.

The inhabitants of Iuliakum buried their dead on the road in front of the settlement. The "sarcophagus" on the castle square is a Roman ash box, a container for the remains of a cremation. It was found in Kirchberg and erected here in 1904.

The Via Belgica between Cologne and Jülich was an important traffic artery that was heavily used as the B55 until the last century. It made Jülich a strategically important point in the Rhineland. It is therefore no coincidence that the town looks back on a long tradition as a fortified town. The late Roman fort, the medieval town and the early modern citadel are just three stages in a history of fortifications that stretches back to the 19th century.

Today, the route of the Via Belgica in the east of Jülich is interrupted by open-cast mining; only the last section follows the Roman route. There it is called “Römerstraße” (Roman Road) – its asphalt lies almost two metres above the gravel of the Via Belgica.