Bain des Capucins, ancien Petit Bain ou Bain des Pauvres ou Bain des Goutteux

English translation

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History

Bath reserved for the treatment of skin diseases, for the poor and the leprous whose access to the Grand Bath was forbidden. Without formal proof, a Roman origin has been attributed to the Capuchins bath, as well as a hypothetical reconstruction at the end of the 11th century. Single-storey building of square plan fitted with a single basin and covered with a hipped roof, whose centred plan is in keeping with the usual arrangement in thermal architecture before the 19th century. In 1800, construction of a steam bath in dressed stone, with division of the basin into two to use waters of different temperatures. In 1932, restructurings due to architect R. Danis (joining of the Capuchins bath to the tepid bath). The interior space is a single volume which has retained its 18th-century structure. It is covered with a vault with six ribs whose apex is pierced with an annular keystone allowing the evacuation of vapours through a lantern window. The floor is covered with polychrome mosaic decoration carried out in 1933 by the firm Gentil-Bourdet.