Elisengarten – Urban Life and Continuity in Roman Aachen

The name Aquae Granni, the Roman precursor of modern-day Aachen, points to Roman Aachen’s greatest asset: its hot springs! The mineral waters were quickly believed to have healing powers. Granni refers to Grannus, a Gallic deity associated with health and recovery. The earliest thermal baths date to around the turn of the millennium. From the outset, the Romans envisioned Aachen on a grand scale: even at its founding, the town had the air of a true city – 30 hectares in size, with wooden houses, thermal baths, and even a stone bathhouse with tiled roofs.

A City Growing Around Its Baths

In the early second century, Aquae Granni underwent a complete urban renewal. Emperor Trajan may have intended to elevate the vicus to a regional capital – a theory supported by stamped bricks and an inscription bearing his name. The original baths made way for a monumental square of more than 6,000 square metres, likely containing a forum and temple. Across the city, monumental new bath complexes were built.

Aquae Granni became one of the Roman Empire’s leading wellness centres and the only major spa in Germania Inferior.

Elisengarten: A Glimpse into Roman Urban Life

The archaeological showcase in the Elisengarten offers a rare window into this thriving Roman town. Beneath a modern glass canopy lie the remains of multi-phase Roman housing, including both wooden and stone buildings, as well as early to late medieval layers that testify to centuries of continuous settlement. These structures belonged to the well-to-do southern quarter of Aquae Granni, situated just steps from the thermal baths and the forum. Here, archaeologists have also identified a guesthouse (hospitalia) where visitors coming to the waters once stayed—a tangible reminder of the city’s long tradition as a spa destination.

Discover Roman Aachen Today

In 2027, the VIA VIA Roman City Walk route of Aachen invites visitors to explore the hidden remains of Aquae Granni. One of its key stops is the Elisengarten, where large viewing windows reveal fragments of Roman walls and floors from a once-thriving residential quarter. Alongside the Elisengarten, the route highlights other archaeological glimpses across the city, together offering a vivid sense of nearly two millennia of continuous urban history.

Are you ready to take a walk?

“‘The city smells of rotten eggs,’ Julia grimaces. My daughter is right. The thermal baths of Aquae Granni may be healing, but their sulphurous stench is unbearable. It doesn’t seem to bother the bathers, though. Our cart moves forward at a crawl through a crowd of shuffling people and wagons piled high with wood. ‘Most of it is for the baths,’ says a dark-skinned man walking beside us. ‘Every day, the thermae and the underfloor heating of the rich devour another piece of the forest. The baths heal the body, but not nature,’ he sighs, before vanishing again into the throng. Quintus Iulius has come up with the idea of bottling the spring water and selling it at the markets of Germania Inferior. Personally, I’m just looking forward to sliding into the warm water for a few hours — and talking with people from all corners of the Empire. Perhaps I’ll overhear some news about the situation in Rome. They seem to change emperors every few months this year. Murder and decapitation — not even the most curative water can wash that away.” – Ammulva Iucunda