Overview
- The Landesdenkmalamt announced Wednesday that archaeologists uncovered a stone cellar at Molkenmarkt dated to the 14th or early 15th century.
- The room measures at least 8.5 metres by nearly 7.5 metres and preserves foundations and walls up to 2.30 metres high made of large fieldstones and bricks.
- Project leaders say the cellar likely served as a Kauf‑ und Handelskeller tied to a previously unknown, large representative late‑medieval building near the historic Rathaus.
- Officials credit wartime destruction and post‑1945 infill with protecting the cellar and will re‑fill the exposure from mid‑June to guard it from weather while further study proceeds.
- The Molkenmarkt dig began in 2019 and will continue through 2027 as one of Germany’s largest urban archaeological investigations, with officials considering an in‑situ 'archaeological window' for public viewing.