Date

Circa 1910

The occasional repository for historic stonework or masonry found from time to time in Paris. (Wikipedia) Thermes de Cluny are an ancient Gallo-Roman ruin lying in the heart of Paris which are partly subsumed into the Musée de Moyen Age-Hôtel de Cluny. The present bath ruins constitute about one-third of a massive bath complex that is believed to have been constructed around the beginning of the 3rd century. The best preserved room is the frigidarium with intact architectural elements such as Gallo-Roman vaults, ribs and consoles and fragments of original decorative wall painting and mosaics. It is believed that the bath complex was built by the influential guild of boatmen of 3rd century Roman Paris or Lutetia, as evidenced by the fact that the consoles on which the barrel ribs rest are carved in the shape of ships' prows. Like all Roman Baths, these baths were freely open to the public, and were meant to be, at least partially, a means of romanizing the ancient Gauls.