| Abstrakt: |
During the second half of the 18th century, there was a multiplication of major canalization projects. While many were not completed, they all nevertheless stimulated the imaginations of architects, officials, and amateurs. Thus were born remarkable projects for the amelioration and the equipment of the ideal city. Numerous architects, engineers and amateurs were fascinated by the dream of a major urban renovation. In the image of the antique Roman city, where relaxation, body care, sports and divertissements contributed to the well-being of the citizen, the baths projected in the 18 century were conceived of as vast complexes. These projects coincided with the publication of surveys of Roman buildings, which preceded the major restitutions on paper realized by the pensionnaires of the French Academy in Rome in the 19 century, but also that of the plans of antique Rome and the most complex of these edifices in particular by Piranese, then the publication of works exclusively devoted to the description of the baths and their riches by Cameron and by Scamozzi. The baths imagined by the students of the Royal Academy of Architecture were not inspired by the developing theories of hygiene; no more did they correspond to those that could be produced for the equipment of spas, often simple towns rather than economic, urban centers. In the thoughts of 18 century, architects, the baths represent the most prestigious public program, by the scope of the buildings and the quality of the decoration. They also immediately evoke the mastery of water and of still unequaled architectural techniques. The complexity of the plans, the variety of the forms and the combinations revealed the comprehensiveness of the project; these edifices affirmed themselves as the most finished program in all of the history of architecture, to the point of constituting the model of the city in its ensemble, a modern city in the antique style. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
