Saala (Ladenburg)

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The excavation shows foundations of the Roman Porta Praetoria and an apse of the “Merovingian Royal Court“ (Saala).

After the conquest of the territory around Ladenburg, the Franks restored the ancient Roman administrative structures and erected a royal seat for the “Graugrafen” in between the half-destroyed Lopodunum. For central administration, the Saala was built with an adjoining church, the St. Sebastians’ Chapel. This shows that it used to be a Palatium (Imperial Palace). The foundations date from the 8th century. On the construction itself there are no proven assumptions. At the beginning of the 15th century, the building was reconstructed by Bishop Frederick of Domneck. His emblem, which is now mounted on the north wall, used to be on the exterior wall of the “Hall”. After the devastations of the Thirty Years’ War and the withdrawal of the bishops of Worms it was used as a kind of tithe barn to collect natural taxes. In 1868 the Saala was described as: “The Hall, a ruinous large building, which interior contains ancient wooden pillars, remnants of an old fireplace and wall paintings in the style of the 13th and 14th century”. Copies were made from the paintings. They were owned by the Club Of Antiquity of Mannheim and destroyed in the 2nd World War. The paintings’ topic was “Victory of the craftiness of women over men”. They were repainted in Julius Sievert’s (pastor of Ladenburg) history book “Lopodunum – Ladenburg”. After the dissolution of the district court in 1878, the town administration sold the property cheaply to the merchant Georg Scola. In 1884 they bought the land back at a much higher price because of the increased space-need of the adult education center. While teachers’ apartments were established in the Bishop’s Court, the Saala was demolished and instead, the “old” adult education center was built. Only the vault calles “Kaiserkeller” underneath the Saala remained and is now home of the Choral Society “Liederkranz”.