1945: The end of the war - a new beginning for archaeology in Carnuntum
The end of the Second World War marked a decisive turning point for Carnuntum. Systematic scientific research into the Roman city had already begun in 1877 on behalf of the then Imperial-Royal Central Commission for the Research and Preservation of Artistic and Historical Monuments and had been carried out continuously until the interwar period. However, the political and economic upheavals of the war years had largely brought archaeological activities to a standstill.
Immediately after the end of the war, scientific progress was resumed in Carnuntum. In 1946 and 1947, Hermann Vetters led the first follow-up investigations in the camp amphitheater. The aim of this work was to verify existing research findings and to clarify open questions about the pre-Roman and Roman settlement history.
Renovations in the Great Baths (known as the “palace ruins”) in the civilian town of Carnuntum - © Land NÖ
The resumption of systematic excavations in the civil city in 1948 under the direction of Erich Swoboda on behalf of the province of Lower Austria was an even more significant signal. This was a deliberate continuation of the 1930s, when large-scale excavations of the city's monumental buildings - in particular the Great Thermal Baths (so-called palace ruins) and in the area of the so-called Spaziergarten - had provided new insights into the urban structure of Carnuntum.
The aim at the time was to immediately “conserve” the uncovered walls with cement mortar in order to create an open-air museum. This is also shown in two film documents “Carnuntum - A Pompeii at the Gates of Vienna” (1939) and “On the Frontiers of the Roman Empire” (1959) from the Austrian Film Archive.
Photo: Erich Swoboda and Eduard Vorbeck as scientific staff during the 1949 excavations in Carnuntum. - © Land NÖ
In the immediate post-war period, the initial aim was to preserve the archaeological substance from the increasing pressure of modern land use and infrastructure projects. The expansion of the excavations into a museum-like open-air ensemble made it possible to make the ruins accessible to the public and at the same time ensure their long-term protection.
This was an important step towards anchoring the cultural heritage of Carnuntum - a city that was an important political, military and economic center on the Danube Limes for more than four centuries - in the collective memory of post-war society.
The resumption of scientific work in Carnuntum also attracted media attention. Many newspapers reported on the excavations and the reopening of the museum at the time, as the following examples show: