ROMAN THERMAL BATH

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 210, 18 August 1933, Page 12

ROMAN THERMAL BATH

DISCOVERIES IN HUNGARY. BUDAPEST, July 6. The first underground museum to be opened in Budapest allows the public to visit the ruins of a Roman thermal bath situated in the suburb of 0-Buda, which contains many valuable Roman ruins. This bathing establishment was built during the rule of the Emperor Trajan, and is presumably the work of his legionaries. After its construction the building was enlarged under the rule of Valentinian (364-375), who was the last Roman emperor to rule over Pannonia (Hungary). The hypocaustum, or heating place, under tlie tepidarium remains the best preserved part of the ruin. In the tepidarium, which was a kind of club for Roman bathers, the hollow tiles by which the hot air was introduced from the hypocaustum are still to be seen. The floor of the tepidarium is decorated with mosaic, which a.t some later date was restored with red tiles. Of the warm baths the caldarium and the steam bath laconicum have not yet been-excavated, but these and the robing room will be opened to the public at some future date. The ruins of the aqueduct by which the water was carried to the bath may still be seen in the Vienna road in O-Buda, near the Roman town of Aquincum. Not far from the Roman bath the ruins of an early Christian chapel have been excavated. The chapel dates from the fourth century, and, is built in the shape of a trefoil. The chapel was the burying place of a Roman noble family, and is the second Celia Trichora to be excavated in Hungary.