Then Roman baths at Bath were built in the first century AD by the Romans, forgotten, and excavated in the 1880s to be opened to the public. From 2006-2010 the museum was renovated and new air circulation systems installed to better protect the precious artifacts inside.
A sign at the entrance to the museum reads as follows:
"ROMAN BATHS DEVELOPMENT
2006-2010
A five year programme to introduce new interpretation, conserve the ancient monuments, extend access, improve visitor facilities, and refurbish the shops.
Opened by
Lord Lee of Trafford DL
Chairman of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions
14 September 2010"
From Wikipedia, a short biography of Lord Lee of Trafford:
"John Robert Louis Lee, Baron Lee of Trafford (born 21 June 1942) is a British Liberal Democrat politician.
Parliamentary career
In October 1974, he contested Manchester Moss Side, but was beaten by Labour's Frank Hatton. He was Conservative MP for Nelson and Colne from 1979 to 1983, and then for Pendle from 1983, until he lost his seat in 1992, to Gordon Prentice from Labour.
From 1983 to 1986, he served as junior minister for Defence Procurement, and then for Employment from 1986 to 1989, being Minister for Tourism from 1987 to 1989. In 1999, he became an non executive director, and a member of the board of the Emerson Group, part of Orbit Developments.
House of Lords
In May 2001, he left the Conservatives and joined the Liberal Democrats, and was made a life peer as Baron Lee of Trafford, of Bowden in the County of Cheshire, on 26 May 2006. From 2007 to 2012, he served as a Whip for the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords. In February 2012, he vowed to resign, in protest of the House of Lords Reform Bill making its way into the Queen's Speech.
In December 2013, he released his "financial autobiography" How to Make a Million – Slowly: Guiding Principles From a Lifetime Investing."
The Roman baths have been an important tourist attraction for Bath for over 100 years. By the 2000s, it as clear that even the artifacts inside the museum were deteriorating from exposure to air and humidity.
From Wikipedia: (
visit link)
"The Roman Baths complex is a site of historical interest in the English city of Bath. The house is a well-preserved Roman site for public bathing.
The Roman Baths themselves are below the modern street level. There are four main features: the Sacred Spring, the Roman Temple, the Roman Bath House and the Museum, holding finds from Roman Bath. The buildings above street level date from the 19th century.
The Baths are a major tourist attraction and, together with the Grand Pump Room, receive more than one million visitors a year. It was featured on the 2005 TV program Seven Natural Wonders as one of the wonders of the West Country. Visitors can see the Baths and Museum but cannot enter the water. An audio guide is available in 12 languages.
. . . .
REDEVELOPMENT
The baths have been modified on several occasions, including the 12th century when John of Tours built a curative bath over the King's Spring reservoir and the 16th century when the city corporation built a new bath (Queen's Bath) to the south of the Spring. The spring is now housed in 18th-century buildings, designed by architects John Wood, the Elder and John Wood, the Younger, father and son. Visitors drank the waters in the Grand Pump Room, a neo-classical salon which remains in use, both for taking the waters and for social functions. Victorian expansion of the baths complex followed the neo-classical tradition established by the Woods. In 1810 the Hot Springs failed and William Smith opened up the Hot Bath Spring to the bottom, where he found that the spring had not failed but had flowed into a new channel. Smith restored the water to its original course and the Baths filled in less time than formerly.
The visitor entrance is via an 1897 concert hall by J M Brydon. It is an eastward continuation of the Grand Pump Room with a glass-domed centre and single-storey radiused corner.[17] The Grand Pump Room was begun in 1789 by Thomas Baldwin. He resigned in 1791 and John Palmer continued the scheme until its completion in 1799.
The elevation on to Abbey Church Yard has a centre piece of four engaged Corinthian columns with entablatures and pediment. It has been designated by Historic England as a grade I listed building.
The north colonnade was also designed by Thomas Baldwin. The south colonnade is similar but had an upper floor added in the late 19th century. The museum and Queen's Bath including the "Bridge" spanning York Street to the City Laundry were by Charles Edward Davis in 1889. It comprises a southward extension to the Grand Pump Room, in which some remains of the C17 Queen's Bath are merged.
Museum
The museum houses artifacts from the Roman period including objects which were thrown into the Sacred Spring, presumably as offerings to the goddess. These include more than 12,000 Roman currency coins which is the largest collective votive deposit known from Britain. A gilt bronze head of the goddess Sulis Minerva, which was discovered nearby in 1727, is displayed.
The Bath Roman Temple stood on a podium more than two metres above the surrounding courtyard, approached by a flight of steps. On the approach there were four large, fluted Corinthian columns supporting a frieze and decorated pediment above. The pediment, parts of which are displayed in the museum, is the triangular ornamental section, 26 feet (7.9 m) wide and 8 feet (2.4 m) from the apex to the bottom, above the pillars on the front of the building. It featured the very powerful central image of the Gorgon’s head glowering down from a height of 15 metres on all who approached the temple.The great head itself has snakes entwined within its beard, wings above its ears, beetling brows and a heavy moustache although there is some controversy about what this really represents as Gorgons are usually female. An alternative interpretation sees the central head as the image of a water god such as the image of Oceanus, and yet another as a Celtic sun god.In early 2010 various stones on the pediment were conserved and rearranged.
Also on display are the remains of the elaborate hypocaust heating system which served the sweat rooms.
In 2016 planning permission was received for a new learning centre aimed at school children and linked to the baths by a tunnel. Funding is being sought from the Heritage Lottery Fund and, if successful, it is hoped the centre will open in 2019.
Conservation
The late 19th century carvings of Roman Emperors and Governors of Roman Britain on the terrace overlooking the Great Bath are particularly susceptible to the effect of acid rain and are being protected with a wash of a sacrificial shelter coat every few years. Exhibits within the temple precincts are susceptible to warm air which had the effect of drawing corrosive salts out of the Roman stonework. To help reduce this, a new ventilation system was installed in 2006.
In 2009 a grant of £90,000 was made to Bath and North East Somerset Council to contribute towards the cost of re-developing displays and improving access to the Roman Baths, by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport/Wolfson Fund, which was established to promote improvements in Museums and Galleries in England."