Tipped

Impressive Museum, Well Preserved

November 27, 2007

Apparently this museum has recently completed renovations, and I must say I was impressed. It has a relatively small footprint, focused around the main bath that has been in use since Roman times, as well as some subterranean chambers and older bits.
Entry gets you a free audio guide, and there are regularly scheduled guided tours as well. The audio guide was pretty extensive, with a range of different kinds of information from basic background on what you were looking at to contemporary historians giving you a walk through and a children's guide that I found myself listening to whenever it popped up, containing characters from the Roman era talking about their use of the baths and the different classes of people in the period.
All of the bits appear to be in reasonably good condition (part of this is because of the way that 18th century Brits gussied it up in a classical style - but even the old stuff looks well cared for) and the various layers of history to be found are quite fascinating to me. You can even get a taste of the purified waters in the pump room cafe and they have the usual books and replicas in the gift shop. Plus, the whole facility is smack dab in the middle of Bath, so you can stroll around through the shopping and dining district that surrounds you, or check out the abbey that is directly beside the baths. Definitely good for a weekend away!

Keywords: history, museum, roman bath