From lavish bathing pools to the humble wet cell

Cleansing body and mind

Even in the last century, and that really is not so long ago, many people had no bathroom of their own. It was only in the second half of the 20th century that it became common to fit bathrooms in homes, and these rooms still had little in common with the bathrooms most of us know today. Back then, they truly deserved the slightly disparaging name “wet cell”. But have you ever wondered how people actually washed in the days of the Greek philosophers, Julius Caesar, Louis XIV or your great-great-grandmother?

The Neanderthals probably did not know the bathroom yet. If they did, that would be pretty crazy. They most likely made do with water from rivers, lakes and ponds. Personal hygiene was not that important at the time anyway: the Neanderthals had no plans to dine at the Ritz (by the way, all the suites of the London hotel, which opened in 1906, had their own bathrooms, a novelty at the time) or to ask for admission to the hottest club in town.

Yet as early as 4500 BC, the palaces of the rulers of Mesopotamia (geographically the area around the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in what is now south-eastern Anatolia, Syria and Iraq) had bathrooms with clay tubs. Archaeological finds prove this. Around 2000 BC, the private rooms of the ruler of Mari even had a bathroom with a stove for heating water, two small clay bathtubs and the first form of a kind of shower. In Mohenjo-Daro (2500 to 1900 BC), almost every house already had its own bathroom and even a toilet. At that time, water had great religious significance and was used to cleanse body and mind. It was not unusual for people to have to wash from head to toe before they were allowed to enter a holy place. This was meant to keep evil spirits out of these places.

A mystical bath in the underworld

In ancient Greece and among the Romans, too, bathing culture was held in very high regard. Between around 400 and 146 BC, the Greeks discovered what they saw as the healing power of water and built the first ancient healing baths in Athens, Kos and Corinth. They made bathing, with its healing and nurturing effects, part of their way of life. Poets and writers such as Homer described the mythical power of water in their stories. The heroes of their tales bathed in warm water to strengthen their bodies. Achilles' mother is even said to have bathed her son in the underworld river Styx to make him immortal. He died anyway; if only it had not been for that wretched heel, the only vulnerable part of his body.

Splendid baths in the days of the Roman emperors

The underfloor heating and sewer systems of the ancient Greeks laid the foundations for the development of the Roman thermae. Among the oldest surviving thermae are the Stabian Baths in Pompeii, which were buried when Vesuvius erupted. At first, fairly plain and sparsely equipped public bathhouses emerged, but splendid thermae with marble-clad walls and spacious pools with warm and cold water soon followed.

But there was much more to marvel at: the luxurious bathing complexes even had massage rooms, saunas, sports grounds, libraries, gardens and colonnades, where bathers listened to the lectures of philosophers or exchanged the latest gossip. Every bathhouse also had public toilets, and the Romans are said to have discussed important business and political matters there. Bathing became an important part of social life, and almost every afternoon (if they could manage it) men and women visited the public thermae.

After a long bath, it was time to go home again. But sometimes the otherwise relaxing day ended less happily for the visitors: if you were unlucky, the clothes you had left in the changing room were stolen. What a drama: you could hardly be seen naked in the street.

To prevent this, slaves sometimes had to guard the clothes. With the fall of the Roman Empire, the Roman baths in the western part of the empire also fell into decline. In the Byzantine Empire, however, the tradition lived on: old thermae continued to be used and new ones were built. The Arabs even adopted the bathing culture they found and developed it further to suit their needs. Bathing culture in Islamic countries is closely linked to faith.

Receiving visitors in the bathroom

It was not until the 12th century AD that public bathhouses came back into fashion, and in the late Middle Ages communal bathing among the nobility was even part of court ceremony. It was also a sign of hospitality to invite guests to bathe before a feast. Many nobles did not even get out of their bathtubs when visitors arrived, but received their guests in the bathing room. Some of the stately bathing rooms of noble residences were very lavishly furnished (e.g. with tin-plated bathing basins with benches).

The public facilities, on the other hand, were less splendid, but they were very busy too, because the bathhouses soon developed into places for socialising and entertainment. People did not just bathe there, they also ate, danced and played music. The separation of the sexes was not taken too seriously, and gambling was often on offer as well, which naturally made the Church suspicious. It saw the mixed bathhouses as a den of iniquity and did everything it could to put an end to the communal frolicking.

The unused bathtubs of Versailles

The outbreaks of syphilis, the plague and cholera came at just the right time for the Church. Whereas the bathhouses had previously also been used to treat (skin) diseases, people now avoided bathing, and the belief spread that water was to blame for the spread of the epidemics. People now had to find a new way of keeping clean. Instead of immersing the whole body in water, only the face, hands and feet were rubbed with damp cloths.

Anyone with a sense of their own importance perfumed themselves with expensive scented waters and powdered their entire body. People also changed their clothes more often. Cleanliness was equated with:

white linen
a pleasant scent
fashionable clothing

Nevertheless, castles and palaces continued to be fitted with splendid, fully functional bathrooms, which probably served more to display the owner's wealth than for actual bathing. In addition, mobile bathtubs came into fashion in the 17th century. The Palace of Versailles (more information here) is said to have had over 100 of these movable tubs under Louis XIV (1638-1715), perhaps better known as the “Sun King”. Whether they were actually used, however, is not documented.

Rocking bathtubs and wet cells

For almost two centuries, the pleasure of bathing was forgotten, and it was only with the Age of Enlightenment (mid-18th century) that society changed its thinking. Public and private baths were set up again. You could also have a bathtub with hot water delivered to your home, because not everyone could afford a bathroom of their own. In 1855, Germany's first public baths and wash house opened in Hamburg, with 65 bathtubs and 56 washstands. This facility gave the poorer population in particular a place to wash.

More such public baths were built up to the end of the 19th century. Some of them were already very similar to today's swimming pools, as you could learn to swim there. Around 1900, separate bathrooms with a bathtub and washbasin were also installed in houses. English bathrooms, with their wood panelling, exuded a great deal of cosiness and often even contained a sofa and a table. American bathrooms, by contrast, were more functional and tiled.

This style also caught on in Europe. But a bathroom of your own was still pure luxury, and a large part of the population had to manage without a bathtub or shower for many years. During the so-called building boom from 1950 onwards, many flats were fitted with so-called wet cells. Only gradually did the bathrooms we know today develop. Incidentally, in 1889 Carl Dittmann patented a rocking bathtub, which was very popular for as long as 20 years. Rocking back and forth was supposed to turn the bath into a “wave bath”.

The bathroom today and tomorrow

Today almost everyone has a bathroom of their own, and it is used not only for washing, but also for relaxation and wellbeing. On a cold winter's day, it is a real treat to lie in a hot bath with a good book until your skin goes all wrinkly. Those who can afford it have not only a new shower but also the latest gadgets or even a whirlpool installed. Others have to make do with smaller rooms and less luxury, but even on a small budget a bathroom can be furnished attractively nowadays.

What will the future bring? No idea, but the desire for individual design and choice is unlikely to change in the coming years, so designers and architects will continue to come up with new products and design options year after year. One thing should definitely change: environmental awareness should come more to the fore, because the sustainable use of water as a precious resource is becoming ever more important. We need to be increasingly aware that many people in the world have no fresh, clean water, neither for drinking nor for washing, while other groups of people even waste water.

2021-03-17 17:30:00