Xanten

Xanten (Santen in Dutch and Lower Franconian) is a 21,690 inhabitants town located in the northwestern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, not far from the border with the Netherlands. It's known for having one of the largest archaeological open air museums in the world, built at the site of the Roman settlements Colonia Ulpia Traiana. Xanten is part of the region of Lower Rhine (Niederrhein), an area that isn't very densely populated.

How do I arrive to Aachen?

  Xanten isn't well connected from the rest of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. 

• Train: there are trains every hour to places like Duisburg (aprox. 45 minutes).
• Bus: there are some buses to many cities in NRW state like Kalkar, Duisburg or Düsseldorf. There are buses to Nijmegen (Netherlands) from Kleve.
• Car: if you rented a car from Xanten it can be reached Kalkar (aprox. 20 minutes), Duisburg (aprox. 40 minutes), Düsseldorf and Essen (aprox. 50 minutes) or Cologne and Dortmund (aprox. 1 hour 10 minutes).

History

  The first settlements by isolated tribes can be dated to around the year 2000 BC. Around 15 BC the Roman castrum (destroyed during the Revolt of the Batavi). Afterwards it was rebuilt and, under emperor Traianus, it was named Colonia Ulpia Traiana, becoming second most important commercial post in the province of Germania Inferior (after current Cologne). In 363 the Christian Viktor of Xanten is supposed to have been executed for refusing to sacrifice to the Roman gods. Around the 5th century the Franks began to settle the area of Xanten and, according to the legend of the Nibelungs, the mythical Siegfried was born here. Around the 8th century a church honouring Victor of Xanten was built here, besieged by Norsemen in 863; in 1392 the northern part of the town came into the possession of the Dukes of Cleves, while the southern part remained with the Archbishopric of Cologne till 1444 (when was awarded to the Duchy of Cleves). In the 17th century Xanten was (along with Cleves) inherited by the Margraviate of Brandenburg. After the Napoleonic Wars, Xanten was administered within the Prussian Rhine Province and in those years excavations were carried out at the Roman ruins. During WW2 85% of the city was destroyed and after it, Xanten's town and cathedral were rebuilt and there was a rise in the population because of the resettlement of expellees from East Prussia.
 

What can I visit in Xanten?

 The city still has some traces of its Medieval past with part of the walls. It's worthy to use the bicycle to visit Xanten. These are Xanten's main attractions:

• LVR-Roman Museum (9-18 from Mar to Oct; 9-17 Nov; 10-16 from Dec to Feb; 9€/ 6€/ free  adults/ students/ people under 18): museum that introduces the visitor to the 400 years of Roman presence in Lower Rhine region (from the first arrival of Roman legions to when they retired for the arrival of German tribes) with interactive expositions. The museum is placed over Grosse Thermen, some thermae partially excavated that introduced well to daily life of the Romans (there's even an interesting boat). With the ticket it's included the visit to Xanten Archaeological Park.
• Xanten Archaeological Park (9-18 from Mar to Oct; 9-17 Nov; 10-16 from Dec to Feb): remains of the former Roman town that have been transformed into an open-air museum. It has some buildings that has been totally rebuilt to show visitors how they used to look.
• Xanten St. Victor's Catholic Cathedral (10-18 Mon-Sat, 12:30-18 from Mar to Oct; 12-17 Mon-Fri, 10-17 Sat-Sun from Nov to Feb; free): 13th century Gothic Dom with Romanesque origin, considered the biggest cathedral between Cologne and the sea. Inside it contains a five-aisle nave with plenty of treasures that witness Xanten's medieval importance. Some of the most important places in the cathedral are Marienaltar (with a representation of the Tree of Jesse by Heinrich Douvermann), Candelabrum (masterpiece with a Doppelmadonna) or St. Victor's tomb, a 4th century Roman martyr.
• Xanten Chapter Museum (10-17 Tue-Sat, 11-18 Sun; 4€/ 3€/ free  adults/ students/ people under 18): museum located in a former 11th century abbey with a lot of treasures like relics, sculptures or awesome illuminated manuscripts.
• Siegfried Museum Xanten (10-18 Mon-Fri, 10-17 Sat-Sun from Apr to Oct; 10-17 from Nov to Mar; 4€/free  adults/ reduced): museum that explains the legend and history of the Nibelungs, focused on the mythical Sigurd or Siegfried (according to legends he was born here).
• Continuing by Rhine river 16 km it appears Kalkar, a 13,902 town with a wonderful Altstadt built around Kalkar Town Hall. Its most spectacular building is St. Nikolai Catholic Church (10-11:45 and 14-17:45 Mon-Sat, 14-17:30 Sun from Apr to Nov; 14-15:45 Mon-Sat, 14-17:30 Sun from Jan to Mar; free), 13th century church with 9 impressing altarpieces by the local carving school (being the main altarpiece, Hochaltar, and Georgsaltar). It can also be visited Kalkar Town Museum (10-13 Mon, 10-17 Tue-Sun from Apr to Oct; 11-13 Mon-Tue, 11-18 Wed-Sun from Nov to Mar) where learning about the history of this place. 
• Only 5 km north from Kalkar there's Moyland Castle (11-17 Mon, 11-18 Tue-Fri, 10-16 Sat-Sun from Apr to Oct; 11-17 from Nov to Mar; 7€/ 3€  adults/ students and people under 22), 19th century Neo-Gothic Schloss with a medieval outlook owned by the Dutch family Steengracht when since the Seven Years' War. Currently it hosts a Modern art collection (one of the largest collections of works by Joseph Beuys in the world) as well as drawings and paitings all over the castle and cute gardens.
  

Inner part of Xanten Cathedral

LVR-Roman Museum

Schwanenburg Castle

Keeping north, very close with the border with the Netherlands it can be found the city of Kleve (Kleef in Dutch, Clèves in French), a 51,845 inhabitants city that was the seat of the important Duchy of Cleves. The main landmark here is Schwanenburg Castle (11-17 from Apr to Oct; 11-17 Sat-Sun from Nov to Mar; 3€/ 1€  adults/ students and people under 18), castle whose construction began in the 11th century but transformed into a more comfortable and representative Baroque residence of the Dukes of Cleves. It houses the Kleve district court, a geological museum and a photo exposition. It also have an interesting art museum at a Classicist building from when Kleve was a popular spa resort, Museum Kurhaus Kleve (11-17 Tue-Sun; 10€/ 5€  adults/ students and people under 18), that has Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque works, as well as pieces of contemporary art, graphics and applied arts and a collections of works by Rhineland artists Ewald Mataré and Joseph Beuys. Another art museum is B. C. Koekkoek House Museum (14-17 Tue-Sat, 11-17 Sun; 7€/ 4€  adults/ students and people under 18), house where Barend Cornelis Koekkoek lived when he earned enough money with his paintings. There's a combined ticket for these two art museums (14€/ 7€  adults/ students and people under 18). Next to the house there are some nice Baroque gardens: Neuer Tiergarten and Forstgarten. In Kleve there are some churches that are also worth a visit like St. Mariä Himmelfahrt Catholic Church (main parish in Kleve, done in Gothic style), Unterstadtkirche (modest Gothic church that used to be part of a Minorites monastery), Kleve Lutheran Church (17th century small church) or St. Willibrord Catholic Church (11th century Romanesque church in the district of Kellen).

Emmerich Rhine Bridge

Not far from here is located Emmerich am Rhein (Emmerik in Low German and Dutch), a 30,748 people town famous for Emmerich Rhine Bridge, a 803 m long bridge from 1962, the largest suspension bridge in Germany. But there are also more things to do here such as visiting Heilig-Geist Catholic Church, eccentric church built in 1966 with a version of the cross made of scrap metal and the Stations of the Cross made of linen, and Rhine Museum (10-12:30 and 14-16:30 Tue-Wed, Thu and Sun; 2.50€/ 1.50€  adults/ people under 18), museum that exhibits 130 ship models, a radar unit, examples of fish taxidermy, maps of the Rhine, a historic Christophorus figurine and a Biber submarine, a one-man U-Boat from WW2.

St Marien Basilica

In case of going west (20 km far from Xanten) it can be found Kevalaer, a 28,021 inhabitants town that is the largest Catholic pilgrimage location within north-western Europe (it has more than 1 million pilgrims every year), famous for an alleged miracle that protected the temple from destruction during the Thirty Years' War. The most important places for pilgrims are St. Marien Catholic Basilica (8-19; free), 19th century Neogothic church based on the plans of the master who built Cologne's cathedral with paitings imitating Sainte-Chapelle in Paris (by the artist Friedrich Stummel) and the largest German Romantic organ in the world; and Gnadenkapelle (6:30-18), chapel that keeps the miraculous image of Virgin Mary from 1640 (Gnadenbild von Kevelaer). Other interesting points to visit here are St. Antonius Catholic Church (10-11:45 and 14-17:45 Mon-Sat, 14-17:30 Sun from Apr to Nov; 14-15:45 Mon-Sat, 14-17:30 Sun from Jan to Mar; free), 13th century church with 9 impressing altarpieces by the local carving school (being the main altarpiece, Hochaltar, and Georgsaltar) and Lower Rhine Folklore and Cultural History Museum (10-17 Tue-Sun; 4€/ 2.50€  adults/ students and people under 18), museum is a 1910 building that shows and preserves folk-cultural heritage of the region between the Rhine and Meuse with exhibitions about old handicraft, popular piety, marksmanship, regional and local history, presents handicraft products, prints and ceramics.

Where can I eat in Xanten?

Xanten isn't a large city so the culinary scene in town is smaller than in other places of NRW. But there are still places that are worth to be tried like the German restaurant zur Börse (Markt 12). 

Posted in: Europe,Germany,North Rhine-Westphalia