Joint German-Dutch effort to preserve Roman border heritage

Limes Germanicus covers 570 kilometres

BERLIN - Germany and The Netherlands plan to jointly nominate the Limes Germanicus as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Limes is the border from 57 BC until around 400 AD between the Roman Empire and the Germanic lands to its north. Remnants of the Limes can be found everywhere in the landscape.

In the Netherlands, the province of Gelderland has the largest number of visible reminders of the Limes, but its remnants and archaeological finds can also be found in the provinces of Utrecht and South Holland.

The Limes Germanicus includes border markings as well as excavated shipwrecks, remnants of forts and settlements, roads and part of a Roman water main.

The entire border extends 568 kilometres into Germany. The Lower Germanic Limes runs from the Dutch North Sea coast near the town of Katwijk, along the Oude Rijn River to Arnhem and the German border and is the Netherlands' most extensive archaeological monument.

The other two sections, the Upper Germanic Limes and the Rhaetian Limes run all the way to Kelheim, near Regensburg, on the River Danube.