Natural Brick of Viminacium

Abstract

Building activity in Viminacium, an important Roman legionary fortress and a city on the Danube in today’s Serbia, was influenced by its natural surroundings. They influenced the position and orientation of the first fortification, built in the 1st century AD, as well as the range of raw materials for the construction of buildings in all of Viminacium’s life phases. The first building material along with wood that Romans encountered after coming to the northern edge of the Stig Plain must have been red burnt soil created by coal combustion, whose source is only a few kilometres from the fortress. The first ramparts were constructed using blocks made of this material, called "crvenka" by the local people, which was used for building purposes in the wider area until relatively recently.