Roman spa heritage: Bath vs Tarragona

The Roman baths of the English town of Bath were largely destroyed in the early Middle Ages and were then rebuilt over various centuries. Yet, that doesn´t prevent the town of Bath to promote and celebrate its thermal spa complex as ´Roman Baths´. The reason being that the building still has Roman foundations, as well as remains of the Roman heating and drainage systems and remains of a temple courtyard; plus, it houses surviving stones from the decorated pediments of the temple, tombstones, Roman coins and other Roman artifacts. Bath´s Roman thermae alone attract more than one million visitors a year (!). Unbelievable to Spanish ears. The city of Tarragona as a whole receives only about one-fifth of this figure. One of the reasons for this huge difference between the UK and Spain is the amount of public money and sponsorship money that has been put and that continues to be put into Roman heritage.

It is unlikely that Tarraco´s public bath complex will ever attract those kinds of figures (partly because Bath´s thermae are also a great example of 19th-century architectural splendour, whereas those of Tarraco only consist of Roman remnants), but there is so much that could be done to redress its current pitiful state. And, trust me, it ís a pitiful sight. For starters, where are these Roman baths of Tarraco? You will look in vain in the city´s tourist brochures and probably only a handful of people will be able to tell you where to find them, let alone that they exist. The fact that since its discovery and partial excavation in 1994, the site, along the Carrer Sant Miquel and adjoining the Roman theatre, has been covered up again with a sand layer to protect the ruins against the elements, doesn´t help of course. There is still an amazing distance that needs to be travelled before Tarraco´s thermae will start to attract tourists: first, they need to continue with the excavation (which first of all means finalizing the expropriation process - part of the site still lies below a private property), then the proper conservation of the site needs to begin and, finally, the archeological complex needs to be converted into a heritage site cum museum. All of which means lots of public (and private) money and lots of patience.

And "why?" are people going to ask. Simple: this is a great site and a great potential tourist draw for the city. According to specialists from the Institut Català d´Arqueologia Clàssica (ICAC), this is one of the two surviving imperial thermae of the entire Iberian peninsula (dating back to the 3rd century AD) which, together with the nearby Roman theatre and surrounding public gardens, formed a first-class monumental complex on the eastern edges of Tarraco´s port district, just outside the city walls, and when converted into an archeological zone (either in the open air or not) open to the public, will have enormous tourist potential.

The imperial public bathhouse uncovered on this site was, between the 3rd and 5th century - a time when the nearby theatre was no longer in use -, the principal recreational area in the port district. The size of half a football pitch (about 3,000 m2) -only a quarter of which has been excavated -, these majestic thermae not only contained bathing facilities of different sorts but also functioned as a gymnasium, a palace of entertainment and a meeting place, all under one roof. And in the public halls bathgoers discussed pressing political issues of the day. A public facility and a grand recreational complex open to all classes: a basilica thermarum is the technical term; in other words, a ´spa basilica´. From the 5th century onwards, in Visigothic Tarragona, bathhouses were privatized - there is evidence in Tarragona of a growing number of small, private thermae from the post-Roman era. Now, fifteen centuries later, let´s make this site a public space again!