A wonder of opulence
Just outside the north gate, you can see a visualisation of the best-preserved castellum baths in the Netherlands. Partially excavated in 1940, the site had to be hastily filled in at the outbreak of the war. As a consequence, the precise coordinates were lost – until 2006, when ground radar imaging made it possible to pinpoint remnants of the walls. Like the photographs taken in 1940, these images testify to the conservation of a rare structure, revealing the only known complete ground plan in the Netherlands of a bath complex along the Roman border.
The ground radar images are thought to show several successive building phases, which remain difficult to untangle without excavation. The visualisation of the site, in the form of beds planted with ornamental grass and set off with steel edging and LED lighting, is therefore limited to an outline following the radar images. These outlines reveal the traditional Roman arrangement of a changing room that gives access to cold, tepid and hot baths, with lateral spaces containing small pools and furnaces.