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The caldarium
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The Gallo-Roman baths are one of the most spectacular examples of ancient architecture still preserved on Gallic soil. Lutèce was then two urban settlements, one tucked in the City, the other on the Seine's left bank (Saint-Geneviève mountain). That was where the grandiose monuments and villas were developed: the Forum beneath rue Soufflot, the arenas in rue Monge, the baths of the south in rue Gay-Lussac, the baths of the east under the Collège de France and the baths of the north known as de Cluny.
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Wall Mosaic
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The northern baths are particularly important given their exceptional state of preservation due to the nearly continuous use of the building since the Middle Ages. The baths were made into different spaces, for the public or services, and subterranean structures. It is easy to identify the three main rooms: the frigidarium (cold room) enclosed within the Museum with a 15 m high vault; a calda to the west bordered by the boulevard Saint-Michel and anothercaldarium to the south at the corner of boulevard Saint-Michel and the rue Du Sommerard. The last two rooms have been in partial ruin since the 17th century. The high walls have conserved their original structure, made unique by the use of small square stones spaced at regular intervals into rows of bricks. Inside, they were covered in mosaic, marble or paint. The frigadarium still has traces of these. The fragment of mosaic now on display, "Love Riding a Dolphin", could be all that is left. This architectural group was, like many other baths, one of the high points of Roman civilisation.
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