Trier

History

The first traces of human settlement in the area of the city show evidence of linear pottery settlements dating from the early Neolithic period. Since the last pre-Christian centuries, members of the Celtic tribe of the Treveri settled in the area of today's Trier. The city of Trier derives its name from the later Latin locative in Trēverīs for earlier Augusta Treverorum. According to the Archbishops of Trier, in the Gesta Treverorum, the founder of the city of the Trevians is Trebeta. German historian Johannes Aventinus also credited Trebeta with building settlements at Metz, Mainz, Basel, Strasbourg, Speyer and Worms.

The historical record describes the Roman Empire subduing the Treveri in the 1st century BC and establishing Augusta Treverorum about 16 BC. The name distinguished it from the empire's many other cities honoring the first Roman emperor, Augustus. The city later became the capital of the province of Belgic Gaul; after the Diocletian Reforms, it became the capital of the prefecture of the Gauls, overseeing much of the Western Roman Empire. From 293 to 395, Trier was one of the residences of the Western Roman Emperor. In the 4th century, Trier was one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire, with a population around 75,000 and perhaps as much as 100,000. The Porta Nigra ("Black Gate") dates from this era. A residence of the Western Roman emperor, Roman Trier was the birthplace of Saint Ambrose. Sometime between 395 and 418, probably in 407 the Roman administration moved the staff of the Praetorian Prefecture from Trier to Arles. The city continued to be inhabited but was not as prosperous as before. However, it remained the seat of a governor and had state factories for the production of ballistae and armor and woolen uniforms for the troops, clothing for the civil service, and high-quality garments for the Court. Northern Gaul was held by the Romans along a line (līmes) from north of Cologne to the coast at Boulogne through what is today southern Belgium until 460. South of this line, Roman control was firm, as evidenced by the continuing operation of the imperial arms factory at Amiens.

The history of the relationship between the Copts in Egypt and the city of Trier goes back to the second half of the fourth century AD, specifically the year 336 AD, when Pope Athanasius I, the 20th Patriarch (328–373 AD), was exiled to this city by order of Emperor Constantine the Great (25 July 306 – 22 May 337 AD).

Pope Athanasius the Apostolic – born around 296 AD – spent his youth in clerical circles, namely in the episcopal residence in the city of Alexandria. This upbringing made him well-versed in the affairs of church administration, immersed in an atmosphere rich with the purely pastoral and educational concerns of the popes.

Geography

Trier sits in a hollow midway along the Moselle valley, with the most significant portion of the city on the east bank of the river. Wooded and vineyard-covered slopes stretch up to the Hunsrück plateau in the south and the Eifel in the north. The border with the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is some 15 km (9 mi) away.

Neighbouring municipalities

Listed in clockwise order, beginning with the northernmost; all municipalities belong to the Trier-Saarburg district

Schweich, Kenn and Longuich (all part of the Verbandsgemeinde Schweich an der Römischen Weinstraße), Mertesdorf, Kasel, Waldrach, Morscheid, Korlingen and Gusterath (all in the Verbandsgemeinde Ruwer), Hockweiler, Franzenheim (both part of the Verbandsgemeinde Trier-Land), Konz and Wasserliesch (both part of the Verbandsgemeinde Konz), Igel, Trierweiler, Aach, Newel, Kordel, Zemmer (all in the Verbandsgemeinde Trier-Land).

Organisation of city districts

The Trier urban area is divided into 19 city districts. For each district, there is an Ortsbeirat (local council) of between 9 and 15 members, as well as an Ortsvorsteher (local representative). The local councils are charged with hearing the important issues that affect the district, although the final decision on any issue rests with the city council. The local councils nevertheless have the freedom to undertake limited measures within the bounds of their districts and their budgets.

The districts of Trier with area and inhabitants (31 December 2009):

Climate

Trier has an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb), but with greater extremes than the marine versions of northern Germany. Summers are warm except in unusual heat waves and winters are recurrently cold, but not harsh. Precipitation is high despite not being on the coast. As a result of the European heat wave in 2003, the highest temperature recorded was 39°C on 8 August of that year. On 25 July 2019, a record-breaking temperature of 40.6°C was recorded, a record which was again broken on 27 June 2026, as the result of the European heatwave in 2026. The lowest recorded temperature was −19.3°C on 2 February 1956.

Culture

Trier has a municipal theatre, Theater Trier, for musical theatre, plays and dance.

Main sights

Trier is known for its well-preserved Roman and medieval buildings, which include:

the Porta Nigra, the best-preserved Roman city gate north of the Alps;

the huge Aula Palatina, a basilica in the original Roman sense, was the 67 m (219.82 ft) long throne hall of Roman emperor Constantine; it is today used as a Protestant church; adjacent is the Electoral Palace, Trier;

the Roman Trier Amphitheater;

the 2nd century AD Roman bridge (Römerbrücke) across the Moselle, the oldest bridge north of the Alps still crossed by traffic;

ruins of three Roman baths, among them the largest Roman baths north of the Alps; including the Barbara Baths, the Trier Imperial Baths, and the Forum Baths, Trier;

Trier Cathedral (German: Trierer Dom or Dom St Peter), a Catholic church that dates back to Roman times; its Romanesque west façade with an extra apse and four towers is imposing and has been copied repeatedly; the Cathedral is home to the Holy Tunic, one of a number of garments claimed to be the robe Jesus was wearing when he died, as well as many other relics and reliquaries in the Cathedral Treasury;

the Liebfrauenkirche (German for Church of Our Lady), which is one of the most important early Gothic churches in Germany, in some ways comparable to the architectural tradition of the French Gothic cathedrals;

St Matthias' Abbey (Abtei St Matthias), still a functioning monastery whose medieval church harbours what is held to be the only tomb of an apostle located north of the Alps;

St Gangolf's church is the city's 'own' church near the main market square (as opposed to the Cathedral, the bishop's church); largely Gothic;

Museums

Rheinisches Landesmuseum (an important archaeological museum for the Roman period; also some early Christian and Romanesque sculpture)

Domschatzkammer (Treasury of Trier Cathedral; with the Egbert Shrine, the reliquary of the Holy Nail, the cup of Saint Helena and other reliquaries, liturgical objects, ivories, manuscripts, etc., many from the Middle Ages)

Museum am Dom, formerly Bischöfliches Dom- und Diözesanmuseum (Museum of the Diocese of Trier; religious art, also some Roman artefacts)

Stadtmuseum Simeonstift (history of Trier, displaying among other exhibits a scale model of the medieval city)

Karl Marx House; a museum exhibiting Marx's personal history, volumes of poetry, original letters, and photographs with personal dedications. There is also a collection of rare first editions and international editions of his works, as well as exhibits on the development of socialism in the 19th century

Toy Museum of Trier

Ethnological and open-air museum Roscheider Hof, a museum in the neighbouring town of Konz, right at the city limits of Trier, which shows the history of rural culture in the northwest Rhineland Palatinate and in the area where Germany, Luxembourg and Lorraine meet

Fell Exhibition Slate Mine; site in the municipality of Fell, 20 km (12 mi) from Trier, containing an underground mine, a mine museum, and a slate mining trail.

Memorial sculpture (2012) by Clas Steinmann to the deportation of Sinti and Romani people in Trier.

Annual events

Since 1980, the Altstadtfest has been celebrated in the centre of Trier on the last weekend of June, followed by the Zurlaubener Heimatfest on the banks of the River Mosel two weeks later.

Until 2014, Trier was home to Germany's largest Roman festival, Brot und Spiele (German for Bread and Games – a translation of the famous Latin phrase panem et circenses from the satires of Juvenal).

Trier has been the base for the German round of the World Rally Championship since 2002, with the rally's presentation held next to the Porta Nigra.

Trier holds a Christmas street festival every year called the Trier Christmas Market on the Hauptmarkt (Main Market Square) and the Domfreihof in front of the Cathedral of Trier.

The Olewiger Weinfest is an annual wine festival held in the village of Olewig, just outside Trier. The festival takes place over three days, typically in August, and features a wide variety of activities, including wine tastings, live music and food stalls.

Education

Trier is home to the University of Trier, founded in 1473, closed in 1796 and restarted in 1970. The city also has the Trier University of Applied Sciences. The Academy of European Law (ERA) was established in 1992 and provides training in European law to legal practitioners. In 2010 there were about 40 Kindergärten, 25 primary schools and 23 secondary schools in Trier, such as the Humboldt Gymnasium Trier, Max Planck Gymnasium, Auguste Viktoria Gymnasium, Angela Merici Gymnasium, Friedrich Wilhelm Gymnasium and the Nelson-Mandela Realschule Plus, Kurfürst-Balduin Realschule Plus, Realschule Plus Ehrang.

Transport

Trier station has direct railway connections to many cities in the region. The nearest cities by train are Cologne, Saarbrücken and Luxembourg. Via the motorways A 1, A 48 and A 64, Trier is linked with Koblenz, Saarbrücken and Luxembourg. The nearest commercial (international) airports are in Luxembourg (0:40 h by car), Frankfurt-Hahn (1:00 h), Saarbrücken (1:00 h), Frankfurt (2:00 h) and Cologne/Bonn (2:00 h). The Moselle is an important waterway and is also used for river cruises. A new passenger railway service on the western side of the Mosel is scheduled to open in December 2024.

Trier is located in the area of the transport association Verkehrsverbund Region Trier (VRT).

Sports

Major sports clubs in Trier include:

SV Eintracht Trier 05, association football

Gladiators Trier, basketball (former TBB Trier)

DJK/MJC Trier, women's team handball

Trier Cardinals, baseball

PST Trier Stampers, American football

FSV Trier-Tarforst, intera alia football and rugby

International relations

Trier is a fellow member of the QuattroPole union of cities, along with Luxembourg, Saarbrücken and Metz (neighbouring countries: Luxembourg and France).

Twin towns – sister cities

Trier is twinned with:

Gloucester, England, UK (1957)

Metz, France (1957)

Ascoli Piceno, Italy (1958)

's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands (1968)

Pula, Croatia (1971)

Weimar, Germany (1987)

Fort Worth, United States (1987)

Nagaoka, Japan (2006)

Xiamen, China (2010)

Izium, Ukraine (2024)

Namesakes

New Trier Township, Illinois, US, originally settled by people from Trier.

New Trier, Minnesota, US, settled by people from Trier about 1856.

New Trier High School, an Illinois school named after Trier.

Notable people

Doris Ahnen (born 1964), politician (SPD)

Hans am Ende (1864–1918), painter

Ambrose (c. 340–397), saint

Apronia of Toul (6th century), nun and saint

Athanasius of Alexandria (296/298–373), saint (in exile ca. 335)

Ausonius (c. 310–395), Roman consul and poet

Martin Bambauer (born 1970), church musician

Reinhold Bartel (1926–1996), operatic tenor

Wolf Graf von Baudissin (1907–1993), general, military planner and peace researcher

August Beer (1825–1863), scientist

Constantius Chlorus (c. 250–306), Roman emperor

Ernst Ulrich Deuker (born 1954), musician

Eucharius (died c. 250), first bishop of Trier

Frank Findeiß (born 1971), poet

Charles de Gaulle (1890–1970), General and French statesman, as commander of a battalion of Chasseurs during the French occupation of Rhineland

Frank Geney (1979–2013), actor

Franz Grundheber (1937–2025), baritone

Helena (c. 250–330), saint, mother of Constantine the Great (residence in Trier by tradition)