Limes Museum Aalen

Where a residential area now borders Aalen's civic hall, the stables and barracks of a Roman cavalry regiment stood some 1,800 years ago. Covering about 6 hectares, Aalen Fort was the largest cavalry fort north of the Alps and home to the elite unit Ala II Flavia on the Raetian Limes. The Limes Museum stands right on the site, letting you walk through the walls of the old headquarters building before meeting, inside, the people who once lived here.

History of the museum

The museum opened in 1964 as a branch of the Württemberg State Museum. Between 1979 and 1986 the fort's neighbouring headquarters building was excavated and conserved, creating the open-air site. Since 2005 the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the museum is one of its information centres. From 2016 the building was renovated for around €8.5 million and the exhibition completely redesigned; it reopened on 24 May 2019.

What to see

• The permanent exhibition: More than 1,200 original finds from the fort and its village, including weapons, jewellery and pottery. On the ground floor you get to know seven people who lived in Roman Aalen through the objects they left behind.
• The diorama: A tin-figure model several metres long shows a summer's day in AD 213, when Emperor Caracalla was campaigning on the Limes.
• The Buch hoard: One of the highlights upstairs is a treasure found in the fort village at Buch.
• The Limes in Baden-Württemberg: Upstairs, you follow the 164 km of frontier in the state, ending with an epilogue on borders past and present.
• Roman park: A trail leads to the foundations of the principia, the headquarters building, to a rebuilt section of barracks and a wooden Roman crane, plus casts of important Limes monuments.

Worth knowing

On the Schillerhöhe behind the civic hall stands a 6.5 m replica of the Jupiter Giant Column from Walheim. Every two years the open-air site turns into a camp full of legionaries and craftspeople for the Roman Days festival.

Opening hours and admission (as of October 2026)

• Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday and public holidays 10:00–17:00, closed on Mondays, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
• Admission: adults €6, concessions €4, families €13.50, children under 6 free. The combined ticket for €8 also covers the Alamanni Museum in Ellwangen.
• Audio guide: free on your own smartphone, with 125 stops. Bring headphones or borrow a pair for €2.

Allow one and a half to two hours for the exhibition and Roman park.

Getting there

The museum is at St.-Johann-Straße 5 in Aalen. You can park at Berliner Platz opposite and in the civic hall car parks. From Aalen main station it is a walk of about 16 minutes, or take a bus to the "Stadthalle/Limesmuseum" stop.

Tripto tip

Start outside in the Roman park and only then go into the museum: once you have seen the foundations of the principia, the models and finds inside make much more sense. With children, check the annual programme for hands-on activities and special tours.