Bath House of Augusta Raurica
N 47° 32.093 E 007° 43.432
32T E 403954 N 5265395
Since the end of August 2000, a new area of the open-air museum park has been open to visitors. On display is the only bath-house in the Roman town to have been made visible so far above ground level.
Waymark Code: WM1Y9R
Location: Basel Landschaft, Switzerland
Date Posted: 08/02/2007
Views: 124
A privately-run bath-house (balneum), open to the public
Augusta Raurica was already known to have three large public bathing complexes (thermae) as well as a therapeutic bath and several private baths (balnea), located in the houses of prosperous citizens. These have now been joined by yet another bath-house, first discovered in 1997. It lies to the north-east of the town centre, in the valley of the Violenbach, on an important traffic route which linked the political and commercial hub of the town, the forum, with the districts which lay along the Rhine.
The bath was built towards the end of the 2nd century, at the back of a building which faced on to the street. It was presumably open to the public and would certainly have been appreciated not only by inhabitants of the local district, but also by traders and other passers-by, who would pay an entry fee to use it.
Like most Roman baths, this one had three rooms, each heated to a different temperature to allow bathers to increase their body temperature in stages. From the street, a corridor led into the cold bath (frigidarium), which also served in this instance as a changing room (apodyterium).
After removing their clothes, visitors entered the parts of the bath-house which were heated by the warm air heating system (hypocaust). Crossing a small room, they would first enter the warm bath (tepidarium) and then, after an appropriate period of acclimatization, the hot bath, which was heated to a temperature of 40-50º Celsius (caldarium). The bathing procedure was rounded off in the 3 x 3 metre pool of the cold bath. For visitors who had more time and leisure, there was the option of visiting the circular sudatorium, which was rather like today's saunas.
The well-house complex was built towards the end of the 1st century AD. It consisted, to begin with, of a tunnel at least 11 metres long and no more than the height of a man, and a well-house with a roughly egg-shaped ground plan and a diameter of about 3.5 metres. This was built like a Roman cellar, with large wall niches and shafts from ground surface level for air and light. We don't know what the first well looked like; the shaft we see today belongs to the second building phase.
At a depth of around 12 metres beneath outside ground-level, excavation in the well-shaft reached ground-water; in Roman times the water table may have been a little higher. Chemical analysis has shown that this is a rather special water source, especially for this region. It has a high sulphur content but a fairly low level of calcium carbonate. And standing right at the bottom of the well, you can tell this from the smell.
In Roman times, the water may have emerged from the slope of the Kastelen Hill, spreading sulphurous fumes. This may have been the reason for building such an expensive construction to contain the spring. Could it also perhaps have been the reason why the bath was later built on this spot? For water containing sulphur has been attributed with healing properties since antiquity - the Roman naturalist, Plinius, for example, recommended it as a cure for nervous disorders.
Most Relevant Historical Period: Roman Empire > 27 B.C.
Admission Fee: Free
Opening days/times:
24 x 7
Web Site: [Web Link]
Condition: Partly intact or reconstructed
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