Fabulously extensive

The collection at Augusta Raurica

2,000,000 Roman finds, more than 110,000 photographs, plans and diaries from the 19^th century, a specialist library with 15,000 volumes: all this forms part of the archive at Augusta Raurica. The collection aims to maintain these cultural treasures to create a collective memory store for us all, to research the heritage and to make it publicly accessible.

The collection includes Roman, prehistoric, medieval and modern finds from excavations in the area of the former Roman town of Augusta Raurica and its burial sites in the present-day municipalities of Augst/BL, Kaiseraugst/AG, Füllinsdorf/BL, Giebenach/BL and Pratteln/BL.

The precious objects, i.e. unique, materially valuable or particularly fragile objects, are indispensable gems in the collection alongside the countless shards, stones and coins.

Ownership and property

In accordance with Article 724 of the Swiss Civil Code, all artefacts belong to the canton in which they were found. For Augusta Raurica, this means the cantons of Basel-Landschaft (artefacts from Augst, Füllinsdorf, Giebenach and Pratteln) and Aargau (artefacts from Kaiseraugst).

Artefacts from Augusta Raurica in the possession of the parties named in the Treaty on the Roman City of Augusta Raurica (Roman Treaty SGS 792.1), namely the cantons of Basel-Landschaft, Basel City and Aargau as well as the Historisch-Antiquarische Gesellschaft zu Basel and the Pro Augusta Raurica Foundation, are available to the Augusta Raurica Museum as items in the collection. Artefacts from the old collections of the Basel Historical Museum and the Swiss National Museum in Zurich are an exception. Coins dating back to 1949 are housed in the Historical Museum in Basel.

Highlights from the collection

Further Roman finds from Augusta Raurica can be found in KIM-net, the digital catalog of cultural assets of the Canton of Basel-Landschaft. Numerous objects as well as drawings, theater sketches and old photographs are also included in the virtual library of the Europeana Collections.

All coins from Augst and Kaiseraugst can be found in the Inventory of Coins Found in Switzerland (IFS):

All coins from Augst and Kaiseraugst

Coins from the silver treasure with photos