"Very interesting museum built to showcase Roman baths that were discovered on the site. It also addresses the history of bathing from Roman times to the present.

As only one of us spoke German, we picked up English audio guides, which covers most of what we saw available in German.

I quite liked the few areas you got to smell certain fragrances they used in history, and the more modern bathing history section."

Corey DeGuelle

"There is a small museum of Roman artifacts built on a Roman thermal bath that you can visit."

FARNAZ MOHAMADI

"A complete tour of this museum provides you with an overview of the history of bathing culture. You begin with the best preserved public Roman thermae north of the Alps. Then the tour continues to the public bathhouses where you can learn about personal hygiene in medieval times. From there you go on to the first toilets and washbasins where you also become acquainted with some eccentric innovations such as bathing boats or the "rocking bathtub". Finally, you will find out about present forms of bathing and explore questions of modern water consumption.

THE BUILDING

The remains of these Roman baths were excavated during the 1930s. After their unearthing they became part of a small museum of local history (‘Propsteimuseum’) and could be visited by small groups. They were not very well known until 1997, when the local historical society decided to rethink the overall concept and settled on building a new museum. The museum opened in 2008. The new building was designed by Markus Ernst from Zülpich. Its concept caters to all the modern functional demands of a cutting edge public exhibition space while preserving and clearly displaying the historical substance.



THE THERMAE IN ZÜLPICH

As the name "Römerthermen Zülpich – Museum of Bathing Culture" suggests, the well-preserved ruins of the Roman baths form the centrepiece of the present museum.

Built first in the 2nd century AD, the core structures of the thermae experienced a long history of modification and expansion until they went out of use and were changed into living quarters during the second half of the 4th century AD. Tolbiacum, as Zülpich was called in Roman times, was a small town (vicus) belonging to the area of Cologne but was situated at the crossings of various major roads which connected Cologne, Bonn and Treves.

ARCHITECTURAL REMAINS

The architectural remains which are still visible today show all important features characteristic for Roman baths. The rooms included a cold room (frigidarium), one or more room(s) of moderate temperature (tepidarium), a hot room (caldarium) and, in one phase, a sweat room (sudatorium). Most of the rooms were supplied with one or more bathing tubs containing water of a temperature corresponding to the surrounding room temperature.

You may examine in detail the typical floor heating system (hypocaustum), the different types of rooms needed for typical Roman thermae and the complexity of their water system. The display cases contain many objects, including cosmetics and medical instruments which demonstrate the variety of activities carried out in the baths."

Kuriakos Koukakis