The ancient Roman city of Aquincum was the capital of the Pannonia province. Its ruins can be found in the Óbuda district of Budapest, the capital city of Hungary. It was originally settled by the Eravisci, a Celtic tribe. Then, some Roman legions came in the area around the year 41 AD and built a fortress which gradually expanded into the capital of Pannonia in the year 103 AD. During the middle of the 4th century, the city came under constant Sarmatian attacks and, following the decline of the Roman Empire, the ancient city was largely destroyed by the year 350 AD. The Germans, the Huns and the Alans invaded the region at the end of the 4th century, then in the 5th century the Hungarian leader Attila settles the area and makes it part of the Hungarian history until nowadays. Below are some images from different places in Óbuda, where the remains of the ancient city coexist with the present times.

Quite close to the Óbuda town hall is a place where an ancient wall can be seen. You can also take photos as a roman soldier…

The wall to the left of the image is partly reconstructed and a special window allows the viewer to disregard the modern buildings and let the imagination flow…

Looking through the glass… at how life used to be…

The wall close-up.

And the same wall seen from the other side, which is organized as a nice garden.

Stepping on one of the towers of the wall.

I guess that some sort of professional landscaper has been hired, because the place looks great.

Actually, the entire area is very beautiful and green.

Also, full of flowers. The place can be found on Google Maps as “Porta Praetoria, betekintés a múltba – Porta Praetoria, a glimpse into the past”.

The ruins continue underneath the Flórián tér; to the right of the image it’s actually Szentendrei út.

And with this, we enter underground, under the streets.

The place is organized as a museum.

These are actually underground passageways through which people are walking all the time.

Yes, these are the public baths (thermae).

Imagine that they used to have central heating in their houses…

Now, back to the surface, we have the ruins of a house of a centurion.

The place is located where Vörösvári út leaves Flórián tér.

Across Vörösvári út is the park of Flórián tér, with a lot of ruins.

Old and new, in the background.

Just imagine that these are around 2000 years old…

And we can still see them…

A postamens (Posztamens), probably for a sculpture.

Yes, these are Roman inscriptions…

Another interesting place is an… amphitheater

It is easily accessible from the modern street.

Old and new… new and old…

It’s the Aquincum Military Amphitheatre (Katonavárosi amfiteátrum), the greater of the two amphitheaters in Budapest (there is another one in the area).

It was built around the year 145, during the reign of emperor Antoninus Pius.

A window towards the past is available…