Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes

Upper German-Raetian Limes
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Map of the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes
LocationGermany
Part ofFrontiers of the Roman Empire
CriteriaCultural: (ii)(iii)(iv)
Reference430ter
Inscription1987 (11th Session)
Extensions2005, 2008
Websitewww.limesstrasse.de
The wooden watchtower reconstructed in 2008 and based on the work of Dietwulf Baatz

The Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes (German: Obergermanisch-Raetischer Limes), or ORL, is a 550-kilometre-long section of the former external frontier of the Roman Empire between the rivers Rhine and Danube. It runs from Rheinbrohl to Eining on the Danube. The Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes is an archaeological site and, since 2005, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Together with the Lower Germanic Limes it forms part of the Limes Germanicus.

The Limes used either a natural boundary such as a river or typically an earth bank and ditch with a wooden palisade and watchtowers at intervals. A system of linked forts was built behind the Limes.