Wood engraving of Queen Victoria in 1880 by an unknown artist, published in L’Illustration nationale (Belgium), 20 April 1880. (Wikimedia Commons)
Exterior of the Friedrichsbad in Baden-Baden, 1879, engraved by Joseph Weber.
Sepia photo of the men's cooling-room, probably early in the 20th century. A man sits, reading a newspaper, while three others recline on loungers. Each wall is faced with similar decorative square tiles about half way up, and then surmounted by a different semi-circular rural image created with individual tiles. There is a drinking fountain on one of the walls. There is also an open door and a wider opening with drawn curtains, but it is not clear where these lead.
A wall plaque in use in the 1990s listing the 16 "suggested" stages of using the Roman-Irish bath (Bains Romains-Irlandais), and the time to be spent at each stage. 15 minutes is recommended in the 1st hot room at 54°C and 5 minutes in the second hot room at 68°C. Apart from the body soap and massage, the only untimed stage is the cold water immersion bath at 18°C! In practice bathers use the baths at their own pace.
#onthisday, 5 April 1880, Queen Victoria visited & was shown round—but didn't bathe in—the glorious, still open, #Friedrichsbad #TurkishBaths in #Baden-Baden. The Römisch-Irisches Bad opened 1877 & cost 1.5 million DM to make it "surpass those known hitherto".
So sad
WE have no VictoriaBad.
🗃️ #C19th
