Rome’s monumental Baths of Diocletian (Terme di Diocleziano) are an interesting site worth visiting. Commissioned by Emperor Maximiam to honor his co-emperor, Diocletian, this 3rd-century-AD imperial facility was in use as the public baths for just over 200 years. Abandoned and neglected following the 6th-century Gothic War, the remaining buildings were later renovated according to designs by famed Italian artist Michelangelo Buonarroti and the facility put to use as a Carthusian monastery. Subsequent use of various buildings in the complex included a planetarium and warehouses for grain storage. Today, the former Baths of Diocletian are home to the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels and Martyrs and – since the late-19th century – a branch of the National Roman Museum (Museo Nazionale Romano).
Inspired by both the Baths of Trajan and of Caracalla, the Baths of Diocletian were reportedly the largest of Ancient Rome, covering an area of just over 32 acres and equipped to accomodate up to 3000 people. The complex consisted of a series of chambers and pools heated or cooled to varying degrees; among these were the calderium (an outdoor bath heated by the sun), the indoor frigidarium and tepidarium (cold and warm water baths now the site of the present-day Basilica), an outdoor natatio (swimming pool), as well as a gymnasium, lecture halls, libraries, theaters, and gardens.
Entrance to the museum complex is via a lush sculpture garden (behind the basilica) where you’ll walk amidst numerous funerary steles, remnants of stone columns, and several limbless and headless statues.
At the center of the garden you’ll see the fountain of the giant urn (cratere colossale).
Start your tour of the museum in the recently renovated main building, where the entrance corridor with barrel-vaulted ceiling and spacious and modern ground floor galleries house several busts and statues, such as:
a post-antique bust inspired by the Capitoline Brutus,
a long skinny votive statue,
a group of three female statues,
and an exhibit on Written Communication of the Romans. Displayed here are fragments of inscribed architraves, friezes, pedestals, and stone tablets, such as:
a fragment of a relief honoring Sol Invictus.
The elegant marble stairs lead to the upper level of the museum and an exhibit dedicated to the Protohistory of the Latin Peoples. The collection here presents information on building techniques and burial and cult practices of early Roman settlements. Items on display include:
a human skeleton, jewelry, tools, weapons, and other votive offerings,
a vast collection of clay pots and jars, as well as burial urns used to store cremated human remains,
and a large relief of Mithras.
Back outside, make your way into the adjoining Grand Cloister of Michelangelo (Chiostro maggiore di Michelangelo).
Framed by rows of monolithic columns (100 in all), this immense courtyard features a manicured mediterranean garden with a stone fountain and quatrefoil basin at its center,
and is sprinkled throughout with large blocks of stone and colossal heads of animals.
The colonnaded galleries along the perimeter house additional antiquities, among which are:
an astounding number of busts and statues (many of which are headless and/or limbless images of gods, goddesses, and mythological heros), such as:
a white marble statue of Aphrodite-Fortune, from the 2nd century AD;
a white marble sculpture of Penthesilea and Achilles from the 2nd century AD;
sarcophagi, such as the impressively carved tomb with reliefs of a drunken Dionysus being supported by Satyr, and an image of the deceased flanked by angels carved onto the lid.
Adjacent to this courtyard is the much smaller cloister of the monastery (Chiostro piccolo della Certosa) also known as the Ludovisi Courtyard. Built into a portion of the former swimming pool, this stone courtyard, with citrus trees and a 16th-century well at its center, is surrounded by arcaded galleries sheltering yet more statues and stonework.
Antiquities here include:
a herm (or herma) of a bearded divinity, possibly Hermes or Dionysys;
remnants of fountains, one of which is decorated with images of Roman gods (Jupiter, Luna, Mars, Sol, Uranus, and Venus);
Emperor Lucius Verus (copy of an original in the Musée du Louvre),
and an interesting collection of portraits of children.
Outside of this courtyard are the remains of the ancient natatio, formerly a swimming pool measuring over 43,000 square feet and now partially incorporated into the apse of the basilica and home to the above mentioned small cloister.
Where once the facade was decorated with colorful marble and mosaic tilework, its niches, shrines and grill-covered windows are set into the rectangular and curved recesses of exposed red brick.
On exhibit in the various sections of the natatio and the rooms adjacent, you’ll see:
a model of the existing structures of the Baths;
pieces of architectural elements like plinths and other segments of columns, decorated corbels, and gateways, such as:
the Gateway of Villa Panzoni;
stone sarcophagi and other funerary objects, such as a 1st-century-AD relief of four figures, and a sculpture of a reclining child;
and other funerary objects, such as a 1st-century-AD relief of four figures;
the reconstructed cubical Tomb of the Platorini family;
and a 3rd-century-AD mosaic floor from the Villa of Anzio with images depicting Hercules and Echelous.
Keep in mind that sections of the Baths may be undergoing excavation or restoration during your visit.
Getting there:
The Baths of Diocletian are located at Viale Enrico de Nicola, just behind the Basilica Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri.
Ticket info:
Adult Admission = 10.00€; additional fee may apply for special exhibitions
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Reviewer
Mike Young
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Baths of Diocletian
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