Cork Models
From their ‘Grand Tour' to Italy, aristocratic Englishmen brought back cork models of antique monuments. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, cork models were considered valuable collectors items at the royal palaces if Europe. The tactile qualities of cork made them highly persuasive objects.
The cork models are displayed in the exhibition hall of the Praetorium.
Capitoline Temple
The world's largest modern cork model can be seen in the Praetorium. It is of the Capitoline Temple, one of the most splendid and monumental buildings in Roman Cologne. It was realised by Dieter Collen, the last cork model constructor in Europe. Sven Schutte's reconstruction provided the scientific basis for the realisation of the model. In the temple of the Capitoline Triad the deities Jupiter, Juno and Minerva were worshipped. Immediately on arrival in Cologne, every new governor made his first sacrifice at this temple.
In the early Middle Ages the Frankish princess Plectrude founded a Christian church and a monastic community in the temple. Up to this day, the Romanesque collegiate church St. Mary in Jerusalem rises from the temple's foundations in the Capitol.
Ubian Monument
The Ubian Monument is the oldest part of the Roman city fortification. The northern wooden fortification was dated back to 9 AD by dendrochronology, a scientific dating method based on the analysis of tree-ring patterns.