cologne

The road “Luxemburger Straße” follows the course of the great Via Agrippa in today's Cologne city area – from Cologne first to Zülpich and then on to Trier. At the gates of Roman Cologne, the road, which was up to 30 metres wide, led through the suburbs with craft workshops such as potteries and glue factories.

Further along, it was lined on both sides by cemeteries for several kilometres, as Roman law prohibited burials within the city boundaries. The above-ground design of the graves depended on the wealth of the family, but was also influenced by the times.

The prestigious gravesites with burial gardens, burial houses and pillar and tower-like burial monuments visible from afar were concentrated in the prominent areas close to the road. Behind them, individually or in groups, were less elaborate graves up to 100 metres away from the road. The grave site as a house for eternity (domus aeterna) was acquired privately without any time limit and was inviolable.