Photos: Füsun Kavrakoğlu, 2026.
The Palaestrae were double and symmetric, they were excavated in 1870. The Palaestrae floors had colored marble mosaic tesseras with large use of crushed green porphyry (serpentine) and antique yellow. The floors were boarded by black trim and were divided internally into rectangular, square and irregularly shaped panels: life-size portraits of athletes or judges, larger than life-size busts pf athletes, equipment and prizes for the athletes. They are distinguished from the judges by their nudity. We can recognize the winners, with palm branch and crown.
The Frigidarium was a monumental hall similar to a Basilica. It has inspired the architecture of many subsequent public buildings, such as the Baths of Diocletian and the Basilica of Maxentius, but its influence did not stop with imperial buildings: the architects who built, in the 1800s the Chicago Union Station and Pennsylvania Station in New York copied its architecture. The Frigidarium served as a meeting point for the visitors of the Baths, who would then sort to one room or another of the thermal complex. Its central position made it the fulcrum for the movements of the bathers. At the same time the Frigidarium had the function of containing the four covered cold baths two of which connected with the Natatio, on the northern side, through a play of waterfalls. On this side there are indications on the floor of a large circular fountain in between two large brick pools. The two fountains of Piazza Farnese made with the granite pools, came from the Frigidarium.
Source: Information panels of the Baths.
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