Standing on the bank of the Danube, few people know that the frontier of the Roman Empire once ran here. It was not merely an administrative border drawn on a map, but a living frontier protected by fortlets, watchtowers and soldiers – the limes, whose Pannonian section we call the Ripa Pannonica. The Solva 19 fortlet at Pilismarót is one of the 19 watchtowers identified along the limes road running from the auxiliary fort of Esztergom Várhegy to Pilismarót. “Between watchtowers Solva 1–19 the limes road ran along the hillside beside the Danube, in the form of a ledge road. Its trace is clearly visible from the edge of the Búbánat valley, past the Hideglelős-kereszt fort, all the way to Pilismarót-Basaharc; part of it is a hiking trail today. After Pilismarót-Basaharc it continues beneath the modern Route 11.”
Source: interreg-danube.eu
Besides the Roman fortlet hidden in the Homok vineyards at Pilismarót, there are two further significant Roman sites: the Roman cemetery of the Öregek-dűlő and the hilltop fort Castra ad Herculem on the Kis-hegy. Together they outline a story that is barely visible today, yet shaped the landscape and the lives of those living here almost two thousand years ago. The Solva 19 fortlet is a special element of the limes. It was not a simple watchtower, but a complex military facility with living quarters, a bath, a well and pottery kilns. It was excavated in 1959 by the archaeologist Sándor Soproni and his colleagues, but after the excavation the site slowly fell into oblivion: the walls – and with them Roman history – disappeared beneath the vegetation, and the story faded from public memory. This is why the Danube Bend Cultural Landscape and Environmental Association of Pilismarót decided to present the history of the fortlet to the wider public in the form of a digital museum accessible to everyone. We do not deal with the other two sites in detail on this site, but you can read briefly about them on the next page.
Drag the slider along the timeline — the defense point built in the given period appear on the map.
Legend
A „Solva” név a római kori esztergomi segédcsapattábor neve volt. A Solva 1, Solva 2 stb. jelölések azonban nem ókori elnevezések, hanem a régészek által használt számozás.
A Duna mentén fekvő őrtornyokat és kis erődöket Solvától kiindulva, egymás után számozták meg, hogy a lelőhelyeket könnyen azonosítani és összehasonlítani lehessen. A számozás tehát a modern régészeti kutatás munkáját segíti.
A rómaiak maguk nem számozták az őrtornyokat és kis erődöket, azoknak saját neveik lehettek, amelyek azonban többnyire nem maradtak fenn.
You can rotate, zoom in, and zoom out on the model in any direction using the mouse. The reconstruction was created based on the results of archaeological excavations and current scientific knowledge.
Hover over the underlined parts and the image switches to the highlighted detail.
Excavating old ruins might seem so simple — surely you just have to dig out and clean the walls, one might think. Yet for such an interesting historical monument to become visitable, dozens of administrative and expert preparations are needed, which sometimes precede the actual excavation and conservation by years. In this section you can get a glimpse behind the scenes of the excavation and protection of the fortlet. Here is the process, point by point – click a point for details:
On the 3D point-cloud model, the underground parts of the fortlet are clearly visible, for example, when we look at the area from below.
The re-excavation needed for conservation still lies ahead of us. As part of it, the floor level established in 1959 will be checked and the condition of the walls precisely surveyed; once the archaeological permit is obtained, the walls will be protected with geotextile and earth, and in the case of partial covering the walls remaining on the surface will be conserved. We will create protection against the floods of the Danube with a Benjes hedge (dead-wood hedge) combined with a living hedge.
According to István Koós’s suggestion, it is worth starting the excavation on the side facing the Danube, because here a very spectacular section of wall is decaying. After reburying the ruin we will plant shallow-rooted vegetation that will “draw out” the line of the walls on the surface. This solution protects the heritage, preserves the established ecosystem, and does not overburden the area.
We hope that with this living example we can demonstrate the “socialisation” of heritage protection — meaning that people do not expect the upkeep of the historical environment only from governmental or municipal bodies, but become aware that they too are responsible for it. They handle the questions of monument protection together with all the related issues, cooperating even with biologists, because they protect the bats living on the monuments, not just the stones. With all this they essentially “weave a safety net” beneath the rescue and revival of heritage values.
Today the Danube seems calm. No signal fire flares on the bank. No guards stand in the tower.
Grass has overgrown the walls.
But the landscape is the same.
The same river. The same bank. The same horizon.
1,700 years ago soldiers kept watch here. Today we stand in the same place.
For the Romans this was a frontier. For us, home.
The past has not disappeared — it has only grown quieter. It is there under the ground, in the stones, in the soil beneath the water. And it is within us too.
The Hercules nature trail, the uncovered remains and this museum all show: the story of this place has not ended.
We no longer guard this bank with weapons. But with attention. With knowledge. With community.
Even today the Danube is not a wall, nor a military frontier, but a living connection between past and present.
And it is up to us whether we hear what it tells.
If you would like to learn more about the life of the soldiers stationed here, walk the length of the Hercules nature trail along the Malom-patak all the way to the fortlet. Find the QR codes on site, and discover this unique Roman military station.
Then sit down for a moment. Close your eyes. And imagine what life might have been like here, on the edge of the empire.
© 2026 Danube Bend Cultural Landscape and Environmental Association
Aquincumi Múzeum
Balassa Bálint Múzeum
Soproni Sándor Egyesület
Magyar Falu Program (Hungarian Village Programme)
Website created by: Dávid Lengyel
www.A honlapon olvasható szövegekhez az alábbi szakirodalmat használtuk fel:
