Nijmegen (NL), August 23-24 2008

[jvrjenivs]

The Roman Festival of August 23 and 24 will be held at a unique venue, for the event takes place on the Nijmegen Kops Plateau, the site of three consecutive Roman forts before the Batavian revolt. For this purpose the Stichting Romeinenfestival (Roman Festival Foundation) has come to an extraordinary cooperation with the owners of the site, the Marggraff Foundation.

During the festival young and old will be able to get to experience Roman life. That weekend the Kops Plateau area in the eastern part of Nijmegen will overflow with Roman themed events. Visitors will be able to visit a Roman wedding, see gladiators fight, and witness religious ceremonies and military demonstrations. Children will get to play Roman games and have the chance to be taught in Roman style. Visitors will be able to browse the Roman market for knickknacks and workshops. Roman food and beverages will contribute to an optimal Roman experience.

A Roman event of this size and scope has seldom be seen in the Netherlands. Paul van der Heijden, chairman of the Foundation, eagerly looks forward to this special event: “The Romans return to Nijmegen, to a familiar place: the ultimate historical experience. Because our festival coincides with the opening of the Luxury and Decadence exhibition in the Valkhof Museum, I expect a broad audience from both Nijmegen itself and regions further away.â€

[Robert Vermaat]

Jay Jurjenius! Good show!

[jvrjenivs]

One of the items we're going to do on the event is to rebuilt about 10 meters of the wooden wall and ditch of the ('second period') fortress, exactly where it has been almost 2000 years ago. Working together with local archaeologists, museum staff and local government and the owner of the property this is a nice project.

As we would like to do a little of experimental archeology, we worked together with Geoffrey Pietersen (Eceniron), Adrian Wink (Armamentaria) and the Valkhof museum, Nijmegen, to reproduce a set of tools, based on finds also from the Kops Plateau.

Last week these were finished and I visited Adrian to collect them


The tools:

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Nice tools Jerjen. The one on the top right is similar tothe Newstead
one. I am looking for that to add to my kit too. Nice work gents.!

[jvrjenivs]

2 times a day a gladiator show, 2 times a military show, on saterday a roman mariage, sunday a roman funeral (cremation)


Participants
* CORBVLO
* Gemina Project
* I. Römercohorte Opladen e.V.
* Familia Gladiatoria Pannonica
* Frank Wiesenberg
* Culina Romana
* Vrijwilligers Museumpark Orientalis
* Robert Wimmers
* Chariovalda
* Pax Romana

[Wander]

Wow! Awesome looking event; I wish I could be there.

Who gets cremated? (Now THAT's commitment to the show!)

[jvrjenivs]

Who gets cremated? (Now THAT's commitment to the show!)

I think it's a piece of wood

And a pic of the Cremation we had in Nijmegen back in 2005.

[Chariovalda]

How about some steaks?

Of course people might start to wonder if all those hungry soldiers suddenly start poking in the funeral pyre and apparently EAT the dearly departed... 8)

[Tormenta]

I'm looking forward to it.

[jvrjenivs]

A nice advertisement for local television, made by Gemina member Marc Sanders.

[url:vib5gkws]http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=BwMI_2bpY8I[/url]

[Praefectusclassis]

And I'm blogging about the wall build.
Part 1 is online now.

[Marcus Mummius]

A nice advertisement for local television, made by Gemina member Marc Sanders.

[url:1r3a4rf7]http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=BwMI_2bpY8I[/url]

I can recognise myself and one of my comillitones

Hopefully people won't come to the festival in Nijmegen and expect a spectacle of the same magnitude as the movie shows (shot at the event in Marle).

[D B Campbell]

Nice tools Jerjen.

Nice place, Adrian!

(I guess I can't be a serious Romanist when I notice the house before noticing the replica Roman tools! Sign of a middle-aged mortgage-slave?)

[Praefectusclassis]

Day 2

[jvrjenivs]

Just back from another hard day working, but the work is getting shape. A very nice, but big project.