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The Roman Bath at Baalbek. A New Address for the City's EntryClemens BRÜNENBERGPhD student, BTU Cottbus, Chair of History of Architecture – ALLEMAGNEType de contribution : communication courteThe lecture discusses the monumental Roman imperial Bath of Baalbek in its exceptional position at the entrance to the city. The investigation of the building constitutes a key for understanding the development of the city of Baalbek and the influences for its layout and building conceptions.Baalbek - the ancient city of Heliopolis - is located in the modern state of Lebanon, in the northern part of the Bekaa Valley. It is particularly famous for a huge Roman sanctuary dedicated to Jupiter. Today the city is in the focus of scientific research as a place of continuous settlement for more than 10.000 years. Since 2002 an international and interdisciplinary project studies the urban concepts and the development of Baalbek throughout the different ages of settlement. One of the particular projects aims at the new study of an already excavated (in the '60s) and partly reconstructed Roman Bath in an area in the southwestern part of the ancient city, the so called Bustan el Khan. The documentation and architectural research of the Roman Bath was continued in 2008 and is still running.The Roman Bath tags - together with a banquet hall in the south - a new entry of the antique Heliopolis. Both buildings are part of an ambitious extension of the city in Roman imperial times - presumably built in late 2nd century AD. Because of the exposed position at the main entrance of the city and the location nearby the sanctuary of Jupiter, the building composition of the public bath and the huge banquet hall holds a special position in the urban structure of the antique city. Being aware of building phases and changes, conclusions on the urban development of ancient Heliopolis can be drawn.With the covering space of nearly 10.000m2 - including at least 5.000m2 of floor space - the monumental public bath at Baalbek is one of the largest bathes in the Levant. Even though there is only a little left of the ancient looks of the primary building - huge substruction works, a few remains of a hypocaust system, remains of a swimming pool and parts of the outside walls - there is still a lot to discover about the building. It follows a stringent axial symmetrical composition, in direct reference to the monumental bathes of Rome, foremost the Thermae of Trajan. The most important programmatic functions of the bath - Frigidarium, Tepidarium and Caldarium - are located on the main axis, common to the usual type of imperial bathes. Therefore the bath at Baalbek takes an exceptional position in the development of Roman bathes in the region by the fact that it was planned and built up all in one phase. Due to the fact that the Roman Bath is built on the slope of the so called Sheikh Abdallah - a foothill of the Antilebanon Montain - huge substruction works, which support the Caldarium, had been required. The arrangement of the main façade and the Palaestra towards the street, which is assumed in the South-East of the bath, made the orientation of the Caldarium towards North-West inevitable - a composition which holds a special position within the common building canon.The lecture focuses on the design of the Eastern façade of the primary building - the front façade. It is preserved up to three layers of stones in situ and is composed with a central entrance and variably shaped niches. Based on the middle axis of the building, semicircular and rectangular niches alternate symmetrically. Two of these niches seem to be used as further gateways for the communication between the inside and the outside. This would have dramatically increased the transparency and complexity of the façade, yet the thermic stability of the building would have been challenged. A multitude of architectural components can be allocated to the façade, including roof tops of the niches in a variety of shapes, architectural decoration and capitals. This allows a reconstruction of the design and height development of the main façade. Therewith conclusions concerning the arrangement and design of the other parts of the bath and thus the significance of the building will be possible. I assume for this point - similar to the design of the floor plan - a close correlation to the design of the ornamentation of contemporary buildings in the city of Rome, colored by the use of regionally available materials. In front of the façade, there is a monumental colonnade, whose present state is a reconstruction by H. Kalayan in the late '60s. This colonnade, together with the façade, makes up a portico, giving the entire building its splendid face. Following the portico, a front court - most likely a Palaestra - is attached. The Palaestra was probably enclosed by three columned halls; the actual dimension of the fourth side - and a possible joint to the street - could not be verified by now. Hence - with the Palaestra in front of the building - a two-wing entrance, afore mentioned, granted access from inside the building to the Palaestra. There must have been further entrances - e.g. the main access to the building from outside - but they cannot be verified anymore.Summing up, the grand public bath of Baalbek features following main characteristics:A planned symmetry of the whole complex, which is executed in a very precise and technically accurate.Planning and conducting of the entire building in one phase.The orientation of the Caldarium towards North-West, which means that the main façade and supposed gateway to the street were more important than the impact of the sun unto the warm bathing area.Close references in the floor plan to the Thermae of Rome.Creation of a ‘new address' for the ancient city of Heliopolis; the city's entry is precisely defined and dominated by the building complex containing the monumental bath and banquet hall.