The Arab Baths in Jaen in Andalucia are located beneath the Palace of the Villardompardo
These Arab baths from the 10th century were hidden under a palace, built in the 16th century. The baths were declared a National SpanishMonument in 1917. There are known as the Baths of Alí and are considered some of the best-preserved in Spain. They cover an area of 450 m², and are visited by over 55,000 people per year.
The baths were an important place for personal hygiene, but also for social life. They were laid out in 4 different rooms: the marble lobby with red and white arches, then the cold room and the warm and hot rooms. Adjacent to the vestibule were entrances to smaller bedrooms. There were boilers next to the hot room that filtered the heat through a system of shafts placed between the rooms’ walls. The room’s floor was constructed on pillars, allowing hot steam of air to circulate.
The baths were built around the first millennium on the remains of a Roman Bath house or Portico.
After the conquest of the city in 1246 by Fernando III the baths continued to be operated during the early years of Christian rule . Between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries their role as bathroom disappeared, while Christians used the rooms as tanneries tanneries. In the 16th century the bath was filled with rubble in order to serve as the foundation for the foundation the Palace.
In the early twentieth century the Palace became part of the real estate of the Provincial Council and in 1913, part of the Baths were discovered. Four years later archaeologists proposed that the building should be declared a National Monument. Since then restoration work has been going on. In 1984 the baths were awarded the Medal of Honour by Europa Nostra.
SEE MORE:
Visita virtual a los Baños Arabes de Jaén. Reconstrucción hipotética retrospectiva 2010
A virtual walk through the baths in Jaen
READ MORE:
Banos Arabes del Palacio de Vilardompardo, Jaén.
By Louis Berges Roldán
147 p.
Jaen: Diputación Provincial de Jaén 1989
ISBN 10: 8486843103
ISBN 13: 9788486843106
Baños Árabes de Jaen: Un Proyecto para su reconstrucción graficá e integraci´n multimedia
Departamento de Ingeniería Gráfica Diseño y Proyectos. Universidad de Jaén