Roman Baths (Bath)
<p><font size="3">[attach]6523[/attach]</font></p><p><font size="3">The first shrine at the site of the hot springs was built by </font><a title="Celts" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celts"><font size="3">Celts</font></a><font size="3">, and was dedicated to the goddess </font><a title="Sulis" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulis"><font size="3">Sulis</font></a><font size="3">, whom the </font><a title="Roman mythology" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_mythology"><font size="3">Romans</font></a><font size="3"> identified with </font><a title="Minerva" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minerva"><font size="3">Minerva</font></a><font size="3">; however, the name Sulis continued to be used after the Roman invasion, leading to the town's </font><a title="List of Roman place names in Britain" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Roman_place_names_in_Britain"><font size="3">Roman name</font></a><font size="3"> of <i><a title="Aquae Sulis" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquae_Sulis">Aquae Sulis</a></i> (literally, "the waters of Sulis"). During the </font><a title="Roman Britain" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Britain"><font size="3">Roman occupation of Britain</font></a><font size="3">, increasingly grand temples and bathing complexes were built at Bath, starting in the first century CE and used for four centuries. After the Roman withdrawal in the first decade of the fifth century, these fell into disrepair and were eventually lost due to silting up. The hot waters, thought to be medicinal, were used through the Middle Ages and redeveloped in the eighteenth century, housed in buildings by two architects named </font><a title="John Wood" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wood"><font size="3">John Wood</font></a><font size="3">, father and son. Victorian expansion of the baths complex respectfully followed the </font><a title="Neo-Palladian" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Palladian"><font size="3">neo-Palladian</font></a><font size="3"> tradition established by the Woods (<i>illustration, right</i>). The Roman complex, rediscovered in the late nineteenth century and reopened to the public in 1897, as well as being a major </font><a title="Archaeology" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeology"><font size="3">archaeological</font></a><font size="3"> find, has become one of the city's main tourist attractions, in multi-media presentations.</font></p><p><font size="3">The water that flows through the Roman Baths is considered unsafe for bathing, partly due to its having passed through the still-functioning original </font><a title="Lead" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead"><font size="3">lead</font></a><font size="3"> pipes, but more significantly because of </font><a class="external text" title="http://aem.asm.org/cgi/reprint/61/6/2071.pdf" href="http://aem.asm.org/cgi/reprint/61/6/2071.pdf" rel="nofollow"><font size="3">encephalitis</font></a><font size="3"> having been found in the water. The newly-constructed </font><a title="Thermae Bath Spa" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermae_Bath_Spa"><font size="3">Thermae Bath Spa</font></a><font size="3"> nearby, designed by </font><a title="Nicholas Grimshaw" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Grimshaw"><font size="3">Nicholas Grimshaw</font></a><font size="3"> & Partners, allows modern-day bathers to experience the waters via a series of more recently-drilled boreholes.</font></p><p><br/><font size="3"> </font></p><font size="3">[attach]6524[/attach]<br/></font>
