A building with a total area of 160 m2 appeared in the Elisen Park, near the city cathedral. It serves to display the remains of ancient structures found during recent excavations. Then the work of archaeologists aroused great interest of the townspeople who constantly gathered around the excavation, and therefore the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Aachen company DSA paid for the creation of the pavilion. Now you can look at the historical monuments without even entering the building, through transparent walls, or reflect on the passage of time, hiding inside from the bustle of the city.
The kadawittfeldarchitektur workshop built a pavilion with steel rods, serving as both a fencing and a supporting structure. The oval plan common in landscape design connects the building with its surroundings, and the permeable walls allow extensive use of natural light. At night, LED lights are turned on in the pavilion.
Actually antiquities are hidden in a glass showcase, but the metal lattice of the walls, as the architects conceived, immediately distinguishes it from the mass of other city showcases. Detailed explanatory materials are glued to its walls: it is not easy for a layman to understand the remains of the foundations. In Elisen Park, traces of human activity have been found from the Neolithic (4700 BC) to the late Middle Ages, and the finds represent all key periods from the turn of the era, when Aachen was the Roman settlement of Aqua Granni, until the beginning of the 16th century.
Of course, for Aachen - the capital of Charlemagne - the Carolingian era is the most important, and therefore the new pavilion is included in the historical route "Charlemagne's road". Also, being sheltered from the weather by a public space, it also plays a practical role: tourists gather there now before going out with a guide to explore the city.
