Roman Baths of Ankara

The Roman Baths of Ankara is an open-air museum featuring the ruined remains of an ancient Roman bath complex. It is situated on Çankırı Avenue around 400 m from Ulus, the heart of the old Ankara district. Along with the baths, this site includes an entire building featuring a palaestra (area for physical exercise), a colonnaded street, and other unidentified structures.

The Roman Baths of Ankara were discovered by excavations carried out in 1937-1944, and after some time, the authorities opened them to the public. The mass on which the baths are built has traces of a human settlement from the Phrygian period. This 2000-year-old Roman bath includes an Apodyterium (changing areas), Frigidarium (cold section), Tepidarium (warm section), a Caldarium (hot section), and a Piscina (swimming pool). Notably, Roman Baths were constructed in the 3rd century AD during the time of Emperor Caracalla as a tribute to the Greco-Roman God of medicine - Asclepios. Numerous epitaphs, gravel steles, lion statues, and sarcophagi stand around the bath structure. Roman Baths stand as a significant reminder of the Roman rule in Ankara.