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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Jutier swimming pool is a Gallo-Roman thermal vestige located in Plombières-les-Bains, in the Vosges department. Built in the second century under the Roman Empire, it was part of a thermal complex including an oven and the Roman Bath. Powered by natural sources, it served as a temperate water basin after steam baths, illustrating Roman engineering in the exploitation of thermal waters.

The excavations carried out in 1857 by the engineer Prosper Jutier, commissioned by Napoleon III, allowed to rediscover this rectangular basin of 10 meters by 6.7, built in sandstone of the Vosges. The swimming pool, buried after the 15th century, was no longer visible in the Renaissance, except for the Roman bath. The stands and the stone walls are reminiscent of those of the Roman Bath, confirming their belonging to the same thermal complex.

The remains, classified as historic monuments in 1980, are now located in the basement of Stanislas Street, accessible only during Heritage Days. Their preservation bears witness to the historic importance of Plombières-les-Bains, a spa renowned since ancient times. Hot springs, captured from Roman times, inspired medical writings in the 16th-17th centuries, such as those of Michel de Montaigne or Dom Calmet.

Roman oven, associated with the swimming pool and the Roman Faucet, was lost after antiquity, covered by later buildings, including the Bassompierre oven in the 17th century. The coloured glass tiles on the sidewalk of Stanislas Street today signal the location of the remains, while the persistent humidity and heat remind their original function.

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