The Thermes de Cluny () are the ruins of

Gallo-Roman Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization (cultural), Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire in Roman Gaul. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, Roman culture, language ...

thermal baths lying in the heart of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

' 5th arrondissement, and which are partly subsumed into the Musée National du Moyen Âge - Thermes et Hôtel de Cluny.

History

The present bath ruins constitute about one-third of a massive bath complex that is believed to have been constructed around the beginning of the 3rd century. The best preserved room is the ''

frigidarium A ''frigidarium'' is one of the three main bath chambers of a Roman bath or ''thermae'', namely the cold room. It often contains a swimming pool. The succession of bathing activities in the ''thermae'' is not known with certainty, but it is tho ...

'', with intact architectural elements such as Gallo-Roman vaults, ribs and consoles, and fragments of original decorative wall painting and mosaics. It is believed that the bath complex was built by the influential guild of boatmen of 3rd-century Roman Paris or ''

Lutetia Lutetia, ( , ; ) also known as and ( ; ; ), was a Gallo-Roman culture, Gallo–Roman town and the predecessor of modern-day Paris. Traces of an earlier Neolithic settlement () have been found nearby, and a larger settlement was established ...

'', as the consoles on which the barrel ribs rest are carved in the shape of ships' prows. Like all

Roman Baths In ancient Rome, (from Greek , "hot") and (from Greek ) were facilities for bathing. usually refers to the large Roman Empire, imperial public bath, bath complexes, while were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed i ...

, these baths were freely open to the public, and were meant to be, at least partially, a means of romanizing the ancient

Gauls The Gauls (; , ''Galátai'') were a group of Celts, Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age Europe, Iron Age and the Roman Gaul, Roman period (roughly 5th century BC to 5th century AD). Their homeland was known as Gaul (''Gallia''). Th ...

. As the baths lay across the

Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...

river on the

Left Bank In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography. In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terrain alongsid ...

and were unprotected by defensive fortifications, they were easy prey to roving barbarian groups, who apparently destroyed the bath complex sometime at the end of the 3rd century. The bath complex is partly an archaeological site, and has partly been incorporated into the Musée National du Moyen Age (or

Musée de Cluny The Musée de Cluny (), officially Musée de Cluny-Musée National du Moyen Âge (), is a museum of medieval art in Paris. It is located in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, bordered by square Samuel-Paty to the south, boulevard Saint-Michel to t ...

). It is the occasional repository for historic stonework or masonry found from time to time in Paris. The spectacular ''frigidarium'' is entirely incorporated within the museum and houses the ''Pilier des Nautes'' (Pillar of the Boatmen). Although somewhat obscured by renovations and reuse over the past two thousand years, several other rooms from the bath complex are also incorporated into the museum, notably the ''gymnasium,'' which now forms part of gallery 9 (Gallery of French Kings and sculptures from Notre Dame that were taken down during the iconoclasm of the French Revolution). The ''

caldarium image:Caldarium.JPG, 230px, ''Caldarium'' from the Roman baths at Bath, Somerset, Bath, England. The floor has been removed to reveal the empty space where the hot air flowed through to heat the floor. A (also called a ''calidarium'', ''cella ca ...

'' (hot water room) and the ''

tepidarium The ''tepidarium'' was the warm (''tepidus'') bathroom of the thermae, Roman baths heated by a hypocaust or underfloor heating system. The speciality of a ''tepidarium'' is the pleasant feeling of constant radiant heat, which directly affects the ...

'' (warm water room) are both still present as ruins outside the Musée and on the museum's grounds.

References

Sources

* ''Album du Musée national du Moyen Age Thermes de Cluny'', Pierre-Yves Le Pogam, Dany Sandron * ''Architect’s Guide to Paris'', Renzo Salvadori, () London, 1990. * ''Caesar to Charlemagne: The beginning of France'', Robert Latouche, () 1968. * ''Round and about Paris, Vol. 1'', Thirza Vallois (), 1995.

External links

Home page (in English)

{{Coord, 48, 51, 03, N, 02, 20, 36, E, type:landmark_scale:10000, format=dms, display=title Buildings and structures completed in the 3rd century Roman sites in France Buildings and structures in Paris Roman Paris Ruins in Île-de-France Ancient Roman baths in France Buildings and structures in the 5th arrondissement of Paris Tourist attractions in Paris

History

See also

References

Sources

External links