Waldgirmes Forum, Archaeological site in Lahnau, Germany

The Waldgirmes Forum was a Roman settlement with stone buildings and a central forum measuring 54 by 45 meters (177 by 148 feet) within an eight-hectare complex. The layout shows the organized way the Romans built and structured their communities.

Dendrochronology of a wooden well dates the settlement's construction to around 4 BC, during the Augustan Germanic wars. It was abandoned after the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD, then used occasionally as a military camp between 9 and 16 AD before being destroyed by the Roman army.

The pottery found here reveals a direct cultural contact between Roman settlers and Germanic peoples living side by side. These everyday objects show how both communities shared the same space during their time together.

The excavated area northwest of Waldgirmes, at the eastern edge of Wetzlar, has been under archaeological investigation since 1993; the ground lies on a spur between the Längenbach and Metzebach streams above the Lahn. The forum itself is marked by a gravel surface with a dark paved border and a slender modern sculpture on a small block at its centre.

The most celebrated find is the gilded bronze head of a life-size equestrian statue, recovered in 2009 from an eleven-metre-deep well; it probably depicts Augustus. A modern re-creation by sculptor Heinrich Janke, modelled on the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius in Rome, was placed on the forum for the 2009 Römertage.