The Moorish Baths are located in the basement of the

Gibraltar Museum The Gibraltar National Museum is a national museum of the history, culture and natural history of Gibraltar located within the city centre of the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. Founded in 1930 by the then Governor of Gibraltar, Genera ...

in the city of

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

, a

British overseas territory The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remna ...

. One of the best-preserved

Moorish The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or se ...

bath houses in Europe, the early 14th century baths bear resemblance to the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

hypocaust A hypocaust ( la, hypocaustum) is a system of central heating in a building that produces and circulates hot air below the floor of a room, and may also warm the walls with a series of pipes through which the hot air passes. This air can warm th ...

system, and have four chambers with pillars.

Location

The museum, founded on 23 July 1930, is situated on Bomb House Lane, branching from the main street. It is opposite the Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned. The baths, located within the museum's basement level, can be accessed only from the interior of the museum.

History

The baths were built around the 14th century, after Gibraltar's occupation by

Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Othman Abu Al-Hasan 'Ali ibn 'Othman (c. 1297 – 24 May 1351), () was a sultan of the Marinid dynasty who reigned in Morocco between 1331 and 1348. In 1333 he captured Gibraltar from the Castilians, although a later attempt to take Tarifa in 1339 en ...

. One source dates the baths to 1355 during the rule of the

Marinid dynasty The Marinid Sultanate was a Berber Muslim empire from the mid-13th to the 15th century which controlled present-day Morocco and, intermittently, other parts of North Africa (Algeria and Tunisia) and of the southern Iberian Peninsula (Spain) a ...

. Records state that they were private baths, part of the palace of the

Governor of Gibraltar The governor of Gibraltar is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The governor is appointed by the monarch on the advice of the British government. The role of the governor is to act as the ...

. The site is considered to be one of the best-preserved Moorish bath houses in Europe. In 1906, James Edward Budgett-Meakin, an authority on Moorish antiquities, wrote of these baths:

Architecture and fittings

The baths, similar in design to ancient Roman baths, have both cold and hot chambers. Heating is provided by a

. There are four chambers with arch formations supported on a pillar system, a 16-sided vaulted roof, a steam room, as well as hot and cold baths. The baths contain four chambers whose structural features are made up of a number of columns. The main hall, which has a central dome, consists of six arches supported on columns with

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

s, which are of different designs; four pillars are small and built with half-bricks, three pillars made of stone are polished, and one pillar is a stand-alone built in bricks. There are four capitals above the pillars, of which three are of

Visigothic The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kno ...

design, while one is of Roman design. Vestibules are part of the main hall which, when in use, were screened to provide privacy to the bathers. Each of the four chambers has natural lighting provided by star-shaped openings in the roof. The room with the heated water, located at the northern part of the baths, has a large arched entry. The plunge bath is located at the southern end. Also noted are underground ducts which convey hot air from the boiler chamber. Excavations in the museum's garden uncovered a water

conduit Conduit may refer to: Engineering systems * Conduit (fluid conveyance), a pipe suitable for carrying either open-channel or pressurized liquids * Electrical conduit, a protective cover, tube or piping system for electric cables * Conduit curre ...

from the Spanish period. The conduit is thought to be connected to an aqueduct that traverses Line Wall Road and has its source in wells south of the town. The conduit enters the garden from the road and continues under the rooms, ending in a

cistern A cistern (Middle English ', from Latin ', from ', "box", from Greek ', "basket") is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by t ...

that has been dug beneath an interior patio.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{Gibraltar topics Gibraltarian culture Buildings and structures in Gibraltar History of Gibraltar Tourist attractions in Gibraltar