Chaves opens the doors of the first thermal museum in Portugal
Christmas comes with a gift for Flavienses. This Tuesday, the Museum of the Roman Baths opens to the public, rated by the scientific community as “a rare site in the entire Roman Empire and absolutely unique in the Iberian Peninsula”.
The Roman Medicinal Thermal Baths, located on the right bank of the Tâmega River, “are the most important Portuguese thermal complex, but also one of the most monumental in Europe”, says the municipality.
Its prominence is given to it by the “grandity of the structures, either for their size, or for the architectural quality and respective state of conservation”.
It is a monument that was “frozen in time”, after an earthquake that nearly 17 centuries ago caused the collapse of the Roman baths building in the area where Chaves is today.
It was discovered in 2006, “by chance”, when a local authority was preparing to build a car park and, over the years, excavations were carried out that revealed two large swimming pools, seven more small ones and even a complex hydraulic system. supply to the structures and which still works today.
After the construction of the building that covers the archaeological find, a problem of condensation, humidity, of the space, due to the hot water spring, was detected.
“The intervention of musealization and resolution of the technical problem, resulting from the interior condensation, I find a technical solution, with the support of the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering (LNEC), with a view to mitigating the problems arising from the existence of water at 73ºC in the its interior”, explains an autarchy.
It was also possible to carry out a series of conservation, restoration and musealization works of all archaeological structures, promoting the necessary conditions for the reactivation of the hydraulic system for the supply of thermal waters, pipelines, tanks and swimming pools.
Entrance to the museum is free and, inside, the visitor has the possibility of a journey through 2,000 years of history, either through the ruins, an exhibition of artifacts, as well as the explanatory panels, screens and interactive tactile table that reveal also the remains of the 17th century wall and the images of the prospection and, later, of the excavation that uncovered the archaeological find.
The Roman Medicinal Thermal Baths in Chaves were classified as a National Monument in December 2012 for presenting themselves “as the most important Portuguese thermal complex, with dimensions only comparable, in provincial terms, to those of Aquae Sulis (now the city of Bath, in England). ) ”, A discovery“ of the greatest heritage importance ”.
The occasional finding that turned out to be the singular is one of the main reasons for the founding of Aquae Flaviae in Roman times. The archeological remains found at the site, in excellent condition, precisely attest to the millenary importance of the thermal tradition of Chaves and of the entire Alto Tâmega region.