It was the site of a castrum occupying a surface of nearly 15 hectares

When you are visiting Keszthely-Fenékpuszta today, it is hard to imagine that in Roman times it was the site of a Castrum that occupying a surface of nearly 15 hectares surrounded by massive ramparts and towers up to 15 m high. In the 18th century, when the court of the Festetics was planned, the ruined and partly demolished defences were still visible above ground. That is why the new buildings were erected outside the western wall of the fort but exactly parallel to it. Even the avenue of chestnut trees, which led to the court’s main building, is oriented on the castrum’ s axis. This avenue started directly at the road that already then cut diagonally across the fort and is identical to today’s road no. 71. The foundations of the southern gate, the granaries and the Early Christian basilica were consolidated in the 1960s and 1970s and they can be still be visited today. Since then, further plans to promote the Roman monuments in the area have been put forward but, so far, none have become reality.

Visualization of a future archaeological park in Fenékpuszta

The exhibition Castrum Virtuale presented suggestions for a future archaeological park, based on the assumption that the road that cuts across the area is removed. The presence of ancient roads, walls and buildings is indicated in various two- and three-dimensional ways. The southern gate and a granary are to be fully reconstructed, while the northern gate and the tetrapylon take the form of by open structures made by steel and wood. The layout of the towers and defences is indicated by gravel in two colours and the ground plans of the buildings are marked out by a planting scheme that differentiates them from their surroundings. A protective structure covers Building 25, whose walls are conserved in situ. The elevations of the original buildings are to be shown at the site in digital reconstructions.

The Tetrapylon