Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri

The church of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri in Rome is an example of the reuse of an ancient building. Commissioned by Antonio Lo Duca, a Sicilian priest living in Rome, it was adapted under the supervision of Michelangelo in the central hall of the former baths of the emperor Diocletian (284–305). The work began in 1562 and continued until 1568, despite the deaths of the artist and the donor in 1564. Michelangelo’s course of action was to respect the structure of the building. He therefore conserved the vaulting as well as the eight columns topped by their capitals, which were still in place. In the eighteenth century, the church was renovated in a Baroque style.

Although the works undertaken should not be considered a real restoration of the appearance of the Baths of Diocletian, the church is nevertheless the best existing example of what these edifices looked like. This type of monument has its origins in the Greek world where public baths were very widespread from the classical period. In the Roman world, the baths, adapted and improved, became some of the most characteristic monuments of imperial town planning.

While public baths already existed under the Roman Republic (509–27 BC), the turning point in their architecture took place during the reign of the emperor Augustus (27 BC–AD 14). However, the Baths of Nero (54–68), inaugurated in 64, represented the first appearance of the type of baths known as “imperial” – to which the Baths of Diocletian, built between 298 and 305–6, belong. This type is characterised by its axiality, symmetry and monumentality.

A visit to baths would begin outside where there were facilities for physical exercise, and often gardens as well. Then, one entered the baths where there was a series of rooms: hot baths, steam baths, massage rooms, lukewarm rooms and cold baths. These large complexes decorated with sculptures, paintings and mosaics also featured libraries and auditoriums. They were thus a space for physical activity, relaxation and meetings, and constituted the Romans’ favourite pastime. However, men and women did not visit the baths together – they were either open to men or women depending on the time of day, or part of the baths was reserved for women.

With the development of Christianity, the baths slowly lost their importance, at first because paying too much attention to the body was not in the spirit of the new religion, then later because of the demographic and economic decline of the empire, which meant that the immense complexes could not be maintained. However, this tradition did not completely disappear. Smaller baths continued to be maintained and built.

Hammams were developed in direct imitation of the Roman and Byzantine baths. The most famous baths in the Islamic world are probably those of Qasr al-‘Amrah, in the north-east of the Jordanian desert, dating from the early eighth century, and those of Khirbet al-Mafjar in Palestine, dating from the second quarter of the eighth century. These two palatial examples were, however, different from Roman baths of the “imperial” type. In fact, like the Byzantine baths of which practically no vestiges remain, they were inspired in particular by private baths, which the Romans called balnea, and the smaller public baths that the Arabs discovered in the Byzantine territories they conquered. The tradition of the baths was taken up in the Ottoman world, sometimes on a more monumental scale, as demonstrated, for example, by the fourteenth-century hammams of Bursa.