Saint Peter, whose statue tops the ornate fountain on Trier's market square, has stood there for 400 years, but he is really a newcomer in town, for Trier is at least five times older. In fact, it was already a city when Peter was still out fishing on the Sea of Galilee. Most guidebooks to Germany give Trier only a page or two, if that much. Package tours to the country do not include it. And even intrepid do-it-yourself travelers who map out their itineraries tend to pass it by. Considering its size and location, perhaps that is understandable. Snuggled between rolling vineyard-covered hills at the confluence of the Moselle, Saar, and Ruwer rivers, on the western edge of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate and within easy walking distance of the Luxembourg border, it does seem off the beaten path. But what a shame, for not only is it Germany's oldest city, officially chartered in 16 B.C. as "Augusta Treverorum," but it was the "Rome of the North" and, in its heyday in the 4th century A.D., as important and splendid as Rome itself. (Besier 543).
In his De Situ Orbis, a description of the then known world, the 1st-century Roman geographer Pomponius Mela called it "urbs opulentissima" -- the most opulent city -- of the empire. It was from Trier that six Caesars, including Constantine the Great, governed their far-flung Western European realm and ruled over Britain, Gaul, and Spain. A history and reputation like that alone make Trier worth more than just a detour. The city is a treasure trove of antiquities and stunning old architecture covering two millennia: from Roman through Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque to Neoclassical. (Besier 546)
In fact, it is one of the wellsprings of Christianity and the site of Rome's acceptance of Christianity.......
