Roman thermal baths and medieval bathhouses in Cologne
A Roman thermal bath and medieval bathhouses in Cologne are documented by archaeological findings and the early entries in the Cologne land registers .
Roman bathing culture in the city and the surrounding area
In the first centuries of the new era, cultivated bathing pleasure outside of the larger settlements was a privilege of the wealthy. This included the rulership of the numerous country estates in the vicinity of the city, which could have their property, called Villa rustica , lavishly expanded and furnished.
Excavation finds from the Cologne thermal baths
During shaft work in preparation for a construction project, foundations of a round building were uncovered in 2007 between the inner-city Cäcilienstrasse, the Cäcilienkloster and the Kämmergasse as well as the north-south drive east of these streets and the Leonhard Tietz Strasse , which were part of a Roman thermal baths .
The archaeological findings was one of archaeologists -Germanic Museum Roman called the result a good preservation as one of the most important finds from Roman times Cologne for many years. According to the Cologne historian Hellenkemper, the former thermal baths, dated to the 2nd / 3rd century, were of considerable size. The round building, which was probably formerly used as a sweat bath , is said to have reached an outside width of 18 meters depending on the layout and strength of its foundation walls (1.20 m wide and 1.70 m high made of Roman cement ). From the arrangement of the foundation templates placed on the outside, it was concluded that these had served to stabilize the masonry, which, similar to a buttress of arched church buildings, would have absorbed the pressure of a high domed structure . Parts of the former underfloor heating and the side heating ducts were still clearly visible.
Details of an ancient thermal bath
A visit to a public thermal bath operated by a tenant was affordable for most citizens. The bather, men and women had separate rooms or opening times, paid ¼ to an ace . Women paid a higher amount than men, and children and soldiers had free entry. The utensils brought by the adult included a simple or richly decorated handle ( patera ), depending on their personal status , the same applied to the scraper ( strigilis ) and a bottle (ampulla) of fragrant oil. The bathing pleasure that the Romans indulged in was equally good for cleanliness, physical and mental relaxation, but also for health. In many thermal baths there were separate rooms in which massages , hairdressing and shaving, but also cupping and small medical interventions were offered.
2nd century cupping heads
Grip shell (patera), scraper (strigilis) oil container (ampulla)
Body cleaning with the help of the scraper
After cleansing the body to which they used a scraper, followed by the respective preference the hot or cold baths in tubs , tubs or pools , where you stay in the steam bath, the tepidarium , or particularly the strengthening of the circuit relevant staying at caldarium follow let. The bathing stay ended with the frigidarium , a room for slowly cooling down one's body temperature to the normal value.
Reports of late antiquity
The centuries following the Roman era lie in the dark with regard to everyday life , details of the manners and customs of the Cologne population are hardly known. The Jewish community , which has been in Cologne since the 4th century and which, according to the historian Keussen, continued to exist in the Franconian period, certainly still had the opportunity to carry out its ritual baths in the mikveh , a collection of "living water", the first construction phases of which are in the Dated before 800 and which was given the shape it is today after reconstruction around 1096. The medieval shrine files, however, mention a "Jewish bathing room" in Jerusalemgässchen only in 1334.
Remnants of the thermal bath
Successors on the area of the ancient thermal baths are said to have been Christian cult buildings , probably since the early Carolingian period . In a document from the Archbishop of Cologne, Willibert, from the year 888, St. Cäcilien is attested as a noble women's monastery on this site. Today's building ( Museum Schnütgen ) essentially corresponds to the Romanesque pillar basilica built between 1130 and 1160 . According to old illustrations, the main apse was adorned with decorative blocks made of aqueduct marble , the origin of which was probably old Roman water systems for supplying the thermal baths.
A legend
According to a legend , an early Franconian cult site , a fountain sanctuary on the Rhine, is said to have been located in front of the northern Roman wall in the 7th century , the water of which is said to have increased female fertility. A ritual bathing cult may have taken place there. A similar thing happened in Minden around 803 .
Medieval Cologne baths
There were no elaborate houses or baths like in Roman times in early medieval Cologne. It is likely that this culture was brought to Cologne by the crusaders returning from the Orient . With the growth of the city and an emerging , more demanding middle class in the 12th century, bathhouses were built alongside other public facilities .
Bathing rooms
At the Rheingassentor (near the Rheingasse and Filzengrabenraben) there was a first bathing room mentioned in 165. In 1364 it was replaced by the named “Montabauer” room. This was acquired by the council in 1439 to build a grain and flour scale there. It was one of the public, licensed bathing rooms documented in Cologne since the 12th century , the rooms of which were only of modest size, but for which their operators had to pay a high rent to the city. After the first two in the district of S. Kolumba and in the district of S. Martin , all inner-city districts later had such an institution, in some of them they were also available several times (1438 11 pieces).
Numerous locations
- 1165, at the Rheinhassentor
- 1167, Steitzeuggasse
- 1200, before S. Martin
- 1234. in the Wehrgasse
- 1267, Under goldsmith (first)
- 1282, in Halbmondgässchen (later became a brewery)
- 1339, opposite the S. Johann Baptist churchyard
- 1344, Jews bathing room in Jerusalemgässchen
- 1346, "Montabauer" on Filzengraben
- 1349, on the Berlich
- 1350, "Zum Reiher" Under Goldschmied (new)
- 1371, at the Frankenturm
- 1377, on Hochstraße (Hohe Straße)
- 1390, “to the wandering” in Schildergasse
- 1392, on Maximinen (Maximinenstrasse)
- 1392, "Krele" on Breitestrasse ( Breite Strasse )
- 1400, on the Berlich (new)
- 1405, on Johannisstrasse
- 1410, on the "Große Sandkaule"
- 1415, "zum Schiederich" in the Trankgasse
- 1428, "zum Swanen" in Weberstrasse
- 1452, on the "Great Greek Market"
All locations:
- The bathers and his customers
Attachment of the cupping heads by the bath (around 1481)
Bath scene (1498)
A bather treats bathers. Engraving by Jost Amman , 1568
Decline
As in other countries, this form of bathing culture declined in the 16th century , as public baths were avoided as a precaution due to the emergence of the new disease ( syphilis ). In 1631 the number of Cologne bathing rooms had decreased to four. The assumption that it was immoral in medieval bathing rooms is probably only partially true. In most normal bathhouses there was a strict gender segregation .
Exhibits in the Roman-Germanic Museum in Cologne and the special documentation in the Zülpich Museum of Bathing Culture give today's visitors a look back at 2000 years of bathing culture in the city and the surrounding area.
literature
- Hermann Keussen : Topography of the City of Cologne in the Middle Ages , in 2 volumes. Cologne 1910. ISBN 978-3-7700-7560-7 and ISBN 978-3-7700-7561-4
- Doris Lindemann: Baths for Cologne. From the Roman thermal baths to modern sports and leisure pools . KölnBäder, Cologne 2008, ISBN 978-3-0002-4261-8
- Bathing luxury in the center of Roman Cologne . Documentation of historical finds, foreword by Hansgerd Hellenkemper, RGM and Köbl Kruse, Cologne 2009.
Individual evidence
- ↑ excavation findings under the "Cäcilium" in a publication of the Cologne City Gazette of 16 November 2007, Carl Dietmar. Retrieved December 13, 2009 from Where the Ancient Romans Sweated
- ^ H. Keussen, "The Jewish Quarter ", BIS 30 ff
- ^ Info from the city of Cologne
- ^ Information board from the City of Cologne to St. Cäcilien
- ↑ Chronicle of the City of Minden http://www.alt-minden.de/klchronik.html ( Memento from March 2, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on July 22, 2009
- ↑ a b H. Keussen, Volume I, p. 134
- ^ H. Keussen, vol. 1 p. 134