The Roman Bath @museum.de

Near the Roman City Museum, on the southern part of Mechthildstraße, is the covered and well-preserved Roman bath complex from Rottenburg-Sumelocenna. In the spring of 1929, Roman Bath II was accidentally cut into during sewer work. As a complete excavation was not possible at the time, only part of it was examined and the walls were then covered up again.

It was not until 1962, when an extension was built for the Eugen-Bolz-Gymnasium, that the baths from the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD were completely uncovered and preserved. The bath building was constructed in several phases and measures 18 x 11 m. In the course of the modernization of the auditorium area, a new protective structure with generous glass surfaces was erected in 2006/07.

Guests entered the bath through the west side of Room A, which served as a changing room (“apodyterium”) and was equipped with benches and lockers. The floor level of that time is still visible in this room, as the mortar screed floor has been preserved. A direct connecting door led to the “tepidarium” in room B, which was equipped with underfloor heating and where guests washed themselves in lukewarm water and received massages. The hollow bricks (“tubuli”) in the four corners of the room conducted the hot air upwards and into the room. The floor was made of polished brick and lime screed, and the walls were plastered in wine red. The “praefurnium” fireplace was located outside the room.

Afterwards, visitors could proceed from the cold bath “frigidarium” in room C to the warm bath “caldarium” in room E. The main room, covered with a white plastered barrel vault and decorated with geometric patterns on the interior walls, was extended by three semicircular apses in which tubs of hot water were placed. The hypocaust system for floor and wall heating was fired via two heating rooms, the arches of the combustion channels of which can still be seen today.

Afterwards, guests cooled off in the cold bath room C and immersed themselves in the 70 cm deep cold water pool D “piscina” to toughen themselves up. The side walls and ceilings of the pool were decorated with frescoes depicting fish. A direct passageway led from the cold bath C back to the changing room and exit A.

Foto 1-3: © Sumelocenna - Römisches Stadtmuseum Rottenburg am Neckar, Steffen Schlüter