Bliesbruck-Reinheim European Archaeological Park

The vicus, a small Gallo-Roman town established on either side of the main Roman road, presents the remains of the houses of Roman artisan-traders (blacksmith, bronze worker, baker...) in its 3rd century AD state. J.C.

The public thermal baths built on the forum, in the heart of the Roman city, at the end of the 1st century AD. JC, are the best preserved remains of the Park. They illustrate the importance of hygiene and relaxation in Roman society. The operating system of hypocaust heating is presented there.

The large villa in Reinheim is an example of a vast agricultural estate, of a palatial type, which belonged to a rich landowner. It consists of a huge agricultural courtyard with its buildings reconstructed on scale 1 and a large residential part, which corresponds to the master's house.

The tomb of the Princess of Reinheim is the real-scale reconstruction of a Celtic tomb, among the richest in Europe. The tomb, which the visitor enters, is reconstructed in the state in which this high-ranking woman was buried around 380 BC. J.C.

Several permanent exhibition spaces (Resource and Exhibition Center, building 6 of the villa and the Jean Schaub museum) present a selection of archaeological objects unearthed during excavations. The main themes relate to the tools and creations of Roman artisans, imported exotic products, the interior of the Roman house, buried treasures, toiletries and adornment objects, agricultural tools, monumental decorations and the history of excavations in the valley.

The first archaeological excavations took place in Reinheim between 1806 and 1809. The objects resulting from these excavations as well as subsequent discoveries from the 19th century^e century are today kept at the Palatinate Historical Museum in Speyer (Germany).

In February 1954, the accidental discovery of the tomb of the Princess of Reinheim propelled the site into the spotlight. The operator of the Reinheim sand pit reported to the Saar authorities that the bucket of an excavator had hit a bronze figurine – the handle of a mirror – which he left in place in the ground. The original objects unearthed, among the most beautiful pieces of Celtic art, are today on display at the Museum of Pre- and Protohistory in Saarbrücken, while a full-scale reconstruction of the tomb is presented on the site.

In 1971, Jean Schaub (1927-2000), entrepreneur in Sarreguemines and amateur archaeologist, discovered Gallo-Roman objects in earth from Bliesbruck. On site, he noticed that the exploitation of a sand pit destroyed the remains. He alerted the authorities and rescue searches were launched, first by the Sarreguemines museum team led by Marguerite Pax, then by Jean Schaub and his team.
From 1977, he invested fully in safeguarding the site. In 1979, he organized the first summer camp, bringing together around thirty volunteers from all over Europe. The cessation of destruction was gradually obtained thanks to the private purchase by Jean Schaub of the plots bordering the sand pit and, in 1983, the involvement of the General Council of Moselle, which in turn bought land, allowed recognition of public utility of the project.

In 1989, the Bliesbruck-Reinheim European Archaeological Park, the result of a Franco-German partnership between the Department of Moselle and the Kreis of Saarpfalz, was created. Until 1995, large-scale archaeological campaigns were carried out under the direction of Schaub and Jean-Paul Petit: excavations of the western artisanal district (1981-1987), the thermal baths (1987-1993) and the eastern district (1989-1995).
Through his communicative dynamism, his tenacity and the network of cross-border friendships that he was able to create, Jean Schaub is the driving force behind the Bliesbruck-Reinheim European Archaeological Park.

At the beginning of the 2000s, Sara Santoro (1950-2016), professor at the University of Parma and excavator at the Pompeii site, joined the Park's scientific committee. It is thanks to its relations with the Archaeological Superintendence of Pompeii that the major exhibition "From Pompeii to Bliesbruck-Reinheim" was presented in 2007. Sara Santoro continues her collaboration with the Park by participating in the planned excavations of Bliesbruck until 2016.

In 2018, the "Blies Survey Project" was launched in partnership between the Department of Moselle, the University of Chieti-Pescara (Abruzzo) and the Kreis of Saarpfalz. This diachronic research project aims to reconstruct the history of the environment around Bliesbruck-Reinheim, from Prehistory to the end of the Middle Ages.