The China Mail - Shoppers unaware as Roman tower lurks under French supermarket

The ancient semi-circular structure -- part of fortifications against attack by Germanic tribes then known as "barbarians" from the east -- now shares space with pallets, boxes and stepladders in the basement of the supermarket in the eastern French city's main tourist area.

Nothing above ground hints at the presence of the Roman structure, with the shop fearing being overrun by curious crowds if it became too well-known.

"It would be difficult to organise visits to the tower because of safety considerations," said store manager Gwendal Le Gourrierec.

"But I've never turned anybody down who wanted to see it."

There is, meanwhile, no legal obligation to do so, noted Quentin Richard, curator at Strasbourg's archaeological museum.

A door at the far end of the store, marked "staff only", leads to a stone staircase which brings a visitor face to face with the 1,700-year-old monument.

"We walk past it every day," said Le Gourrierec. "It's an unusual experience."

The tower, which now stands just under 3.5 metres (11.5 feet) tall, was originally nearly three times that height, said Maxime Werle, at the regional archaeological service.

It belonged to a Roman military camp of around 20 hectares (50 acres), he said, which covered much of today's downtown Strasbourg and housed some 6,000 legionaries.

Its geographical location placed Strasbourg on the Roman Empire's frontier, known by its Latin name "Limes", with the nearby Rhine serving as a natural defence against "barbarian" assaults.

At the time the Empire was under intense pressure from foreign invasions, civil wars and economic troubles.

The tower was discovered in 1906 during the construction of a brewery and was listed as a historical monument in the 1920s.

Although its location is owned by a private company, "it is prohibited to destroy or damage it", said Werle. "They can't just do what they want with it."

Strasbourg boasts other vestiges of the Roman camp which are off limits to the public and also "much less impressive than the tower in the supermarket", he said.

P.Ho--ThChM