At the 17th International Conference on Provincial Roman Art on the theme »Zeit(en) des Umbruchs« (»Time(s) of Change«, around 100 scholars from 21 countries met in Vienna and Carnuntum from 16 to 21 May 2022 to present and discuss their research results in a total of 62 lectures. The conference was organised by the Austrian Archaeological Institute of the ÖAW, the University of Vienna and the province of Lower Austria.
The first three days took place in the festive ambience of the Small Ceremonial Hall of the University of Vienna and were dedicated to the focus sections »New Finds«, »Methods« and »Times of Change and Late Antiquity«. On the evening of 16 May, Isabel Rodà de Llanza gave a lecture on »Roman sculpture as a multidisciplinary research focus« followed by a reception. On 17 May, the lecture programme was completed by a guided tour of Roman Vienna and a visit and reception at the Roman Museum in the centre of Vienna. During the entire conference, conference participants had the opportunity to visit the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Ephesos Museum.
On 19 and 20 May the conference took place at the Kulturfabrik in Hainburg nearby Carnuntum. Due to the large number of registrations, the lectures were held in two parallel sections. This left enough time for guided tours through the Archaeological Park Carnuntum – combined with a generous reception by the government of Lower Austria in the atmospheric ambience of the reconstructed thermal baths – and visits of the two amphitheatres and the Heidentor. Of course, in view of the fact that most of the participants were stone specialists, a visit to the Lapidarium behind the Museum Carnuntinum in Bad Deutsch-Altenburg and to the stone depot in the Kulturfabrik itself was not to be missed.
When the majority of the participants had already left, a group of about 30 people went on an excursion to the hinterland of Carnuntum on 21 May. Under the expert guidance of staff from the Austrian Federal Monuments Office we visited the palace ruins in Bruckneudorf, the Provincial Museum of Burgenland in Eisenstadt, the Mannersdorf Town Museum and the pavilion at the »Gschlössl« in Leithaprodersdorf. At the end of this informative day, the municipality of Leithaprodersdorf served us vine and snacks, so that we could toast the conference in convivial company with a glass of Burgenland wine.
We would like to thank our cooperation partners for the good cooperation and all participants for their presentations, contributions to the discussions and the generally good and collegial atmosphere during the conference. We would like to express our special thanks to all those who actively contributed to the organisation of the conference in Vienna and Carnuntum: for the Vienna Days especially to the (student) assistants Olivér Borcsányi, Michaela Löffler, Felix Michler, Tomáš Sobihard and Elisabeth Todt, for Carnuntum to the extremely competent team of Eduard Pollhammer and Bernadette Malkiel.
Franziska Beutler (University of Vienna) - Julia Kopf (University of Vienna) - Gabrielle Kremer (OeAI)