Visit Bath Guide & Bath Tourism

Visit Bath Guide & Bath Tourism

Bath Guides & Bath Attractions

Guide to Bath, England

Among the Cotswolds and the Mendip Hills, crossed the River Avon, located in Bath, which has the reputation of the spa town and is part of the World Heritage List, due to the richness and elegance of the buildings.

According to legend, was founded by King Bladud, who says he cured of leprosy, after having bathed in the muddy waters in that area.

However, it was only with the Romans, who called the town Aquae Salis, it really became a popular spa resort. In 577, the Saxons erected here the first religious building, right where the abbey now stands. The city was fortified with walls and it was important for the processing of wool. The old city still visible today, was built in the eighteenth, by the architects Wood, who created the characteristic buildings in a semicircle and on terraces.

Some important figures of the place, like Dr. William Oliver (from which it took its name instead of the typical cookie, the “Bath Oliver”), the founder of the Bath General Hospital, for assistance to the poor, or the gambler Richard “Beau” Nash, who inspired the fashion of the time: here the English aristocracy met in luxury and elegance, but the splendor of the baths of Bath unfortunately began to wane in the mid-nineteenth century.

The Romans assimilated the Celtic goddess Sulis Minerva and take it to their dedicated a temple and a bath, just above one of three sources of the place. Of this structure were found several important elements, such as structural parts and decorations, kept in the Roman Baths Museum, of which the Great Bath and the King’s Bath are the most significant. Next to the museum is the Pump Room, a restaurant that dates back to 1700, which has portraits of famous visitors of the period. The late Gothic Bath Abbey, nearby, was built between 1499 and 1616.

In the west facade of the abbey are the major decorative elements, characterized by angels going up and down the stairs of stone, in memory of the dream of Bishop Oliver King, the founder. The interior is divided into three naves and a transept of modest size, while a range of times (1504-1518) covering the aisles and the choir. The number of plaques, which are inside, second only to Westminster Abbey in London: the Bath Abbey is the resting place of many famous English characters, like the philosopher and economist T. Malthus and the inventor of shorthand I. Pitman.

Of great importance are the buildings of Palladio, which are located in the north-west of Bath, Queen Square, featuring a rectangular shape and continuity of the facades, Gay Street, King’s Circus, a circular shape, inspired by architectural forms Roman , were all built by J. Wood senjor, whereas the Royal Crescent, consisting of 30 buildings, which extend over an ellipse of 184 meters, is the most important work of J. Wood junior. Many museums are in Bath, such as the Building of Bath Museum, with the planning history of the city, the Holburne Museum & Crafts Study Centre, with exhibition of porcelain, antiques and paintings by 700, or the William Herschel Museum , in memory of the astronomer, to whom we owe the discovery of Mars.