The East Baths area of the Roman Baths, adjacent to the famous Great Bath, will be updated in early 2017 with new interactive displays immersing visitors in the sights and sounds of the Roman bath house.
Projections, soundscapes and CGI reconstructions will show the Roman Baths at the height of their popularity as a working, living and leisure space.
Roman characters of all social classes will interact with each other and visitors will be invited to watch, listen and step into the Roman Baths as they would have looked in the first to fourth centuries.
Considered by many to be the women’s quarters of the Roman Baths, the East Baths contained a large tepid bath fed by water that flowed through a pipe from the Great Bath.
A series of heated rooms developed and grew until the site reached its maximum extent in the fourth century.
There was a plunge pool (balneum), hot room (caldarium), warm room (tepidarium) and changing room (apodyterium).
Councillor Patrick Anketell-Jones (Conservative, Lansdown), Cabinet Member for Economic Development at Bath & North East Somerset Council, said: “These imaginative new displays will transform the East Baths, bringing them to life for visitors of all ages.
“This is part of an ongoing programme of development designed to enhance the award-winning visitor experience at the Roman Baths.”
The project includes conservation and protection works to the Roman monument, which will be carried out this autumn. The new displays will then be revealed in March 2017.
Event Communications, a leading experience design company, has been appointed to create the new interpretation, while locally-based Sally Strachey Conservation will carry out the conservation works.
Members of the public are invited to find out more about the East Baths development at a free talk on Wednesday 26th October 2016, 6.30pm-7.30pm at the Pump Room (entrance via main Abbey Church Yard entrance).
There will be a chance to hear presentations and see plans. Just turn up, no need to book.
