The Imperial Thermal Bath of Heliopolis – a 15,000 sqm UNESCO World Heritage site – represents one of the largest Roman thermal complexes found outside the city of Rome. The excavations conducted from 1964 to 1975 by Haroutune Kalayan, chief engineer of the Lebanese Directorate General of Antiquities, revealed the remains of a monumental, twelve-column portico, whose magnificent reconstruction now welcomes visitors upon their arrival to the modern city. It wasn’t until the early 2000s however, that the building was clearly identified as belonging to a large overall Thermae complex, when a research project was carried out by the Orient Department of the German Archaeological Institute and the Chair of Architectural History of the Brandenburg Technical University Cottbus-Senftenberg on the site’s structures.
We were assigned by the German Archaeological Institute the design, conservation and presentation project of the site. Apart from the large Imperial bath structures, the site contains an Odeon, as well as various Byzantine and medieval structures. The design concept aimed at generating an integrated architectural recreation of history, through the recreation of empty and undefined spaces. The project creates a walk through time, and takes the visitor on a voyage from the site’s first discovery, to its Roman origin and its later development, additions and degeneration.
