Experience 400 years of Roman bathing

Hyper-realistic exhibition takes you 2,000 years back in time

Step 2,000 years back in time and imagine yourself in a Roman bathhouse. See it with your own eyes in a new, ultra-realistic exhibition on the theme “400 years of bathing”. The “star of the show” is the fully restored Roman bathhouse: the oldest building in the Netherlands and, according to many, the Night Watch of Dutch archaeology.

Experience a journey through time in the bathhouse

You are taken through the various development phases of the bathhouse: from its origin to all the modifications over the centuries. Why was it built here? What happened there? How was it used? Who came here through the centuries, and why? Why was it rebuilt at a certain point, and how was that done?

360-degree video footage

You not only look back in time, but also through the eyes of the archaeologist searching for the answers to all these questions. You may take that “looking” literally. The exhibition uses hyper-realistic techniques in which you stand in a circular room and, thanks to 360-degree video images, have the feeling that you are standing “live” in the bathhouse.

On top of the excavations

The bathhouse has been fully restored. There is a 96-metre-long wooden walkway with glass viewing panels. You stand at “almost-touching distance”, with your nose right above the cold and hot water baths, floor heating systems, swimming pool, massage rooms and small shops. In addition, the glass façades of the museum building have been darkened to present everything at its very best. And thanks to coloured gravel, you can see the locations of the colonnade, the shops and the doctor’s workplace.

More information:  Homepage – Thermenmuseum