Roman Window Grille Uncovered in Switzerland

Archaeology Magazine ^ | October 13, 2026 | editors / unattributed

[SunkenCiv]

La Brújula Verde reports that an iron window grille has been unearthed near a Roman house at Augusta Raurica, the site of an ancient settlement on the banks of the Rhine River in northwestern Switzerland. Five bars, two crosspieces, and rings that were likely used to attach the grille to a wooden window frame were recovered. Archaeologists also found two nails. The grill had been set in a wall made of stone and mortar that has since collapsed. The building has not yet been dated. To read about previous finds from Augusta Raurica, go to "Oops! Down the Drain."

[SunkenCiv]

Iron bars of window grille in situ, Augusta Raurica, Switzerland

Augusta Raurica

[SunkenCiv]

[Red Badger]

Caesar’s Bar and Grille?....................

[PGR88]

[JZelle]

Could also be a UHF antenna. Not everyone could attend live chariot races.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

Behind the bars there could be a wooden shutter, a pane of glass or a sheet of lapis specularis, a transparent kind of gypsum that splits into very thin layers. Flat window glass was not achieved until the first century AD, and it was so expensive that only the wealthy could pay for it. Lapis specularis, by contrast, was a Spanish product.

I read articles like this and marvel at Roman technology, trade and the Roman economy. Iron grilles for a large window. Roman windows made of gypsum or even flat glass. Some imported from Spain, some from the Middle East.

Coincidentally, there is an interesting article on gypsum industry and its use for window glass in the Roman Empire. It points out what an economic powerhouse "Spain" was in the Empire and how central "Spain" produced the "glass" (gypsum) for most Roman windows for a while.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12371-026-01268-9

[PeterPrinciple]

that an iron window grille has been unearthed near a Roman house

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an iron grille in the window tells you something about the community...................

[BenLurkin]

bttt

[Vaduz]

Indeed somethings never change

[Does so]

Europe lost out on Isinglass windows?

[VanShuyten]

The grill is probably to protect the expensive window.

Or Gauls, or Germans….

[Nachoman]

So the Romans invented burglar bars? That neighborhood went downhill fast.