Byzantine Bath (Thessaloniki)

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UNESCO World Heritage Site
Paleochristian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessalonika
Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List

The Byzantine Bath
Type Cultural
Criteria i, ii, iv
Reference 456
UNESCO region Europe and North America
Coordinates 40°38′24″N 22°57′12″E / 40.640026°N 22.953464°E / 40.640026; 22.953464
Inscription history
Inscription 1988 (12th Session)


The Byzantine Bath of the Upper Town (Greek: Βυζαντινά Λουτρά Άνω Πόλης) in Thesaloniki is the only Byzantine bath that has survived from the middle Byzantine period in Greece. It is located on the Theotokopoulou Street in the Upper Old City of Thessaloniki.

The baths date to the late 13th/early 14th century, and functioned continuously until 1940. The original architecture follows the typical conventions of Roman baths, with a frigidarium, tepidarium and caldarium, each with two rooms. To the north of the baths was the cistern that provided it with water, with a hearth beneath to warm it. In Byzantine times the building was alternately used by men and women, but in the Ottoman period the bath was divided into exclusively male and female sections, by blocking off each pair of rooms from each other.

In 1988, it was included among the Paleochristian and Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki on the list of World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.

Sources

  • Kourkoutidou-Nikolaidou, E.; Tourta, A. (1997), Wandering in Byzantine Thessaloniki, Kapon Editions, pp. 87–88, ISBN 960-7254-47-3 
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