Easter 1965, the brothers Josef and Heinz Gens discovered a Roman cuboid in the basement of their parents’ house in Cologne’s Südstadt. After informing the urban archaeologists, an excavation ban was first imposed.
After no further initiative came from the city and the archaeologists, the brothers continued to dig secretly, even without the knowledge of their parents. They thought they would rebuild the hobby cellar of the house. They were supported by friends and took care to proceed with scientific precision. The foundations of the house were supported, all finds were catalogued. After the secret digging was noticed by the parents, work could also be continued with the support of machines.
The excavations were sometimes up to 9m below road level. Around 75 partly richly decorated, ton-weight stones, Roman statues, columns, capitals, shards and bones were recovered.
For a long time Josef and Heinz Gens did not know what they were actually hiding. But then they found four large cuboids with an inscription that said it was the tomb of a certain Lucius Poblicius. He was born around Christ’s birth and was stationed as Caesar’s legionary in Xanten. As a wealthy veteran, he later lived in Cologne. Between 40 and 50 AD he had the tomb erected for himself in Cologne. The water of the Rhine washed around the foundation, it collapsed and was covered by alluvial clay until it was rediscovered.
The excavation work lasted two years, then the find was presented to the public, a perfect sensation. The city of Cologne bought the find and documentation for about half a million Deutsche Mark from the young treasure hunters.
The tomb of Poblicius is one of the most important Roman finds ever made north of the Alps, and is a gemstone of Roman-German Museum directly at the Cologne cathedral plate.
Josef Gens was born on September 1, 2012 with the Severins Citizen Prize honored for services to the Cologne language, culture, art and customs, which the Cologne Association Severins-Bürgerpreis has been awarding since 1984.
In various interviews and reports of the WDR he reports very vividly about the hardships, funny events of this treasure hunt. Listening to him is definitely worth listening to!
Sources:
http://www.poblicius.com https://www.planet-wissen.de/video-planet-wissen-geheimsache-roemergrab---sensationsfund-unter-meinem-haus-100.html https://www.daserste.de/information/wissen-kultur/w-wie-wissen/sendung/2008/das-grabmal-des-poblicius-100.html https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grabmal_des_Poblicius https://www1.wdr.de/radio/wdr5/josefgens100.html https://www.ksta.de/koeln/poblicius-grabmal-geschichte-eines-sensationsfundes-5023788