Xanten (Germany) does not just have the APX - the Archaeological Parc Xanten - that is host to one of the biggest European bi-annual Roman festivals. It also has a Roman museum with some very nice militaria.

The town used to host its Roman museum in a somewhat depressing looking concrete construction near the Cathedral. That museum closed in 2005 when they started on a completely new building next to the spectacular covering of remains of the Xanten baths. The new building lies across from the archaeological parc, but will soon be connected with it. The Xanten community is taking the unprecedented step of closing down a major road to expand the parc across the entire area formerly occupied by the Colonia Ulpia Traiana.

But the special occasion today was the press opening of the new museum and I was invited. Together with Paul van der Heijden, fellow organiser of the Romeinenfestival, I went to see what the new 'Römermuseum im Archäologischen Park Xanten' has to offer. We wuz amaaazed...

First off, for anyone who's interested in (museum) architecture this building must be a wonderful piece to study. It's big, it's open, light and leads the visitor through the timeline of history in a natural way. Then there are the displays: many are interactive. You hear and see Roman soldiers talking on the march as you stand between a series of early Imperial helmets, there is military equipment to try on and you can feel what a Roman saddle is like. Other display cases show both the archaeological find and a reconstruction side by side, so the visitor can see what it used to look like. And then there's the imaginative display of photos Roman reenactors with bits of matching original equipment placed on them, such as the swarm of arrowheads hung in front of the archer.

And of course, all the militaria is still there. In fact, although I've only been to the previous museum once, it almost felt as if there's more on display now. There's a (copy of) Marcus Caelius famous tombstone that was found in Xanten, about a dozen helmets, several daggers, sword blades, armor fragments, loads of arrow- and spearheads and a few dozen tombstones, altars and dedications.

In short the next time you're in the (wide) neighbourhood: make sure you drop in. This museum is very much worth a detour, to paraphrase the green Michelin guides.