Culture Ministry Restores Eretria Roman Baths on Evia
by Bill Giannopoulos · Greek City TimesGreece’s Culture Ministry is restoring the Eretria Roman baths on Evia, a complex that sheds light on daily life in the ancient city under Roman rule, the ministry said on Friday.
The project aims to protect the remains and highlight the architectural character of the site, the ministry said. It will also respect the monument’s authenticity and setting.
This work forms part of a wider plan to link the monuments of ancient Eretria. As a result, visitors will be able to follow the city’s history across one network of sites.
Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said “the archaeological site of Eretria is the most important archaeological site in Euboea (Evia)”, with monuments that reflect the city’s long history.
Read more: Antiquities Donation Brings Cycladic Figurines to National Archaeological Museum
Inside the Eretria Roman baths
Its architectural study, prepared by the Swiss School of Archaeology in Greece, fully matches the approved study for linking the site’s monuments, the ministry said.
The Ephorate of Antiquities of Euboea is carrying out that plan. Funding comes through the Regional Operational Programme “Central Greece 2021-2027”.
Overall, the Eretria Roman baths cover about 400 square metres on the southern slope of the acropolis, the ministry said.
Swiss School excavations uncovered the public complex between 2009 and 2014. They date to the second and third centuries AD, when the city was shrinking towards the foot of the acropolis.
Specifically, a vestibule in the Eretria Roman baths leads to a large changing room with benches and a mosaic floor. Next, a cold room, or frigidarium, holds a cold-water pool, while rooms heated by hypocausts contain two hot-water basins.
A small peristyle courtyard beside the changing rooms served for rest and socialising.
Excavators also found large furnaces on the north side. In addition, they uncovered an earlier domed bath from the late Hellenistic or early imperial period.
The baths sit beside the Sebasteion, the House of the Mosaics and the Quarter of the Panathenaic Amphorae.
Plans for the ancient city
Under the study, workers will conserve and partly restore the walls. They will also add a permanent cover over the brick floor of the vestibule and repair the marble bench.
The plan also protects the floors and hypocausts of the Eretria Roman baths. At the same time, it proposes joining the site with nearby remains around the House of the Mosaics.
“Through their restoration and enhancement, we are protecting the authentic remains and making both the function and the historical significance of the monument easier to understand,” Mendoni said.
Decades of digs by the Archaeological Service and the Swiss School have uncovered major public and private buildings since the 1960s, she said.
Mendoni described the finds as “a ‘living’ museum emerging from within the modern urban fabric”. Earlier this year, archaeologists presented new findings from the area, Greek City Times reported.
The ministry did not give a cost or a timetable for work on the Eretria Roman baths.
Source: AMNA
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