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Thermae of Caracalla PDF

The Baths of Caracalla in Rome were the second largest Roman public baths, built between 212-216 AD and commissioned by Emperor Caracalla. The baths contained facilities for bathing, exercise, and leisure activities across its large 15-hectare complex. It featured a symmetrical design with halls, pools, and changing rooms connected along a central axis. Visitors could exercise in the palaestrae, bathe in the tepidarium, caldarium and frigidarium, and swim in the large open-air natatio pool.

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254 views5 pages

Thermae of Caracalla PDF

The Baths of Caracalla in Rome were the second largest Roman public baths, built between 212-216 AD and commissioned by Emperor Caracalla. The baths contained facilities for bathing, exercise, and leisure activities across its large 15-hectare complex. It featured a symmetrical design with halls, pools, and changing rooms connected along a central axis. Visitors could exercise in the palaestrae, bathe in the tepidarium, caldarium and frigidarium, and swim in the large open-air natatio pool.

Uploaded by

aakash purohit
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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THERMAE OF CARACALLA

(AD212-216)

Introduction
The baths of caracalla (Italian:Termedi caracalla) in Rome, The
city’s second largest Roman public baths ,or thermae built in212-
216 AD by Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ,Nick named-caracalla,and
was also a son of Septimiius Severus
• The colonnade on entrance had two storey forming shops at ground
level.
• The main entrance led to park where wrestling,games,dramatic
presentations were held.
• On the opposite side and beyond the stadium there was great reservoir
Of water ,supplied for hot baths heated by furnaces
• Symmetrical planning about the main axis with the compact arrangement of all
the parts of the baths enclosed in a single block
• The setting of this block was in a larger landscaped park surrounded by services
and pavilions for other uses
• The main block measured 225mx115m (750’x380’) ,without the projecting mass
of the callidarium.
• The Thermae stood on a platform 6.1mt high.underneath were vaulted store
chambers,corridors,furnaces, hypocaust and hot air ducts for heating the water.
• The open swimming pool(Natatio)
• The frigidarim (cold water bath) which is entered through basilican central hall
and
• The small Tapidarium(warm water bath)area leading to finally,
• The domes circular callidarium(hot water bath) 55’in dia.this last wat lit by Large windows in the
clerestory, just below the vault
• Other rooms opened off to each other on each side,duplicating exactly, with the two exercise
yards or palaestrae towards the two extremities.
Natatio
• The Natatio was roofless with bronze mirrors mounted overhead to direct sunlight into the pool
area
Palaestrae
• Exercise yard
• Wrestling
• Running
• Weight lifting
• Boxing.
• The whole complex with its two large lateral exedras cover the area of 15
hectares
• In these the care of physical body (baths ,swimming, exercise etc)was not
the only service offered too visitors, they could attend even
debated,lectures etc . In the libraries, lecture halls with in the complex
• The symmetrical planning of the building gave vistas through various halls
and saloons and screens of columns prevented any loss of scale and
emphasized the vastness of buildings.
• The interior unlike the exterior was evidently decorated.the pavement
were formed of bright colored mosaics in geometrical patterns or with
figure of athletes
• The lower part of concrete walls were sheathed with many coloured
marbles and upper part with stucco.

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