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Origin and history

The thermal baths of Saint-Saloine, located in Saintes (formerly Mediolanum Santonum), are one of two thermal complexes identified in this Gallo-Roman city. Built towards the end of the 1st century AD, they succeed earlier workshops or houses, poorly characterized, and mark the third phase of development of the site. Their southern facade, partially preserved, could have been constructed as a monumental fountain, although this hypothesis remains debated. Only the eastern half of the complex is accessible, the other being destroyed or inaccessible.

Classified as a historic monument in 1904, these thermal baths illustrate the urban climax of the capital of Santons. Their abandonment, which occurred during late antiquity, could be explained by the disaffection of public baths, the increasing insecurity in the Roman Empire, or the impossibility of ensuring their costly maintenance. The site is partially saved by its conversion into a paleo-Christian sanctuary, then into a Romanesque church dedicated to Saint Saloine, before being gradually dismantled from the 18th century.

The remains visible today include walls of the caldarium (hot room), whose southern wall has exhedrons suggesting a monumental fountain. The excavations, carried out since the 19th century, revealed traces of the palestre (sports hall), the frigidarium (cold room), and laconicum (sudation room), as well as heating systems (praefurnium) and water supply. The Duhet's aqueduct, although unattested archaeologically, is supposed to have fed the complex. The site, located in the Saint-Vivian district, is bordered to the north by the rue des Thermes romanes and the eponymous cemetery.

The thermal baths were located in an ancient old network, with a decumanus (east-west lane) and an adjacent cardo (north-south lane), which may have been the city's maximus cardo. Their location, at the top of a hill overlooking the Charente, strengthened their monumental character. Public latrines, described in 1896, may have been located nearby, although their exact location remains uncertain. The site, searched several times, retains traces of funeral reuse during late antiquity and the early Middle Ages.

Partial destructions, especially in the 18th century and during the creation of the Saint-Vivian cemetery (1835), erased some of the remains. In 1880 Camille de La Croix definitively identified the thermal function of the site, putting an end to the local belief that it was a temple dedicated to Minerva. The 1906 excavations, although unpublished, and the recent interventions (2010s) made it possible to clarify certain developments, while questioning earlier interpretations.

Today, the thermal baths of Saint-Saloine are, with the arch of Germanicus, the amphitheater and the Gallo-Roman rampart, one of the four ancient monuments still visible in elevation to Saints. Their study continues to shed light on urban planning and the social practices of the Roman Gaul, while highlighting the conservation challenges posed by modern developments.

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