Austen Powers
To the fans of Jane Austen’s work the city of Bath denotes gaiety, balls, romance, marriage, new acquaintances, broken hearts and much more. While two of her novels are set almost entirely in Bath, there are references to the city in most of her works.
It was to this place then, that we went on our Christmas outing. Bath is in the southwest of England on the banks of the River Avon. It is famous for the only naturally-occurring hot springs in the United Kingdom.
The architecture of Bath is quite interesting. The houses are mostly built of pale-gold Bath stone and the buildings are quite large and at least 3-4 storeys tall. Small independent houses are very rarely seen except near the town centre. The roads slope upwards towards the town centre and people living in the lower buildings had to hire chair lifts or carriages if they did not want to walk. On the higher slopes of the hill are private houses with considerable grounds, they are probably the retreats of a wealthy few.
We reached Bath at around 11:30 in the morning and set off for the Roman Bath complex. The original Roman Baths were built by the Romans almost 2000 years ago and the ruins have been excavated and preserved in the modern complex. The modern complex dates back to the eighteenth century when the hot springs were visited for their healing powers. Today the pools fed by the hot springs still stand in all their glory though the waters are no longer in use for their healing properties.
On entering the complex, visitors are given audio guides in which a recorded voice describes the various important locations and displays. The reception hall leads out onto an enclosed corridor which offers the first glimpse of the Great Bath (the largest hot water pool in the complex). On either end of the corridor are doors leading out on to the terrace which overlooks the Great Bath. During our visit these doors were closed and the terrace was off limits.
From here we moved into the exhibition area which contains tombstones, weapons, art from the Roman era and a scale model of the entire complex. We then went to the Temple Courtyard. The original Roman building had a shrine dedicated to the Goddess Minerva. Today visitors can walk through the courtyard and see the remains of the altar and the steps of the shrine.
Further ahead we saw the original drainage system of the Baths – the spring overflow. The excess water from the spring that is not used in the Baths flows out to a Roman drain and from there to the River Avon.
We finally emerged out onto the stone courtyard beside the Great Bath. The water was quite warm though the air was quite chilly. Around the Great Bath are the smaller Baths known as the East Bath, West Bath and the circular Bath. The rooms retain the ruins of the ancient Roman room heating systems known as the Hypocaust. There are also detailed guides of how the baths were used by the Romans – how they progressed from the cold air outside to heated rooms and then into the hot baths, and then ended their bath with a dip in the cold pool.
The place was very fascinating. Imagine looking at stones 2000 years old, and the structures must have been so strong, since the base of the columns and some of the walls have been retained in their entirety. The room heating system is a marvel…who would’ve thought of central heating without electricity, but that is precisely what they had achieved. The whole place has an atmosphere; you can visualize wealthy, influential Romans entering the Baths with their retinue, the servants standing by while their masters enjoyed a hot relaxing bath and then helping them into stately costumes ready for an evening of entertainment. It might also have been akin to modern clubs or golf courses and important decisions might have been made while enjoying a dip in the hot bath.
A structure known as the Kings Bath was added to the original complex a few centuries later. This bath had niches for people to sit in, immersed up to their necks in water. The modern complex as it stands today was built in the eighteenth century. Though people did not come in there to bathe, the hot springs were supposed to have healing properties and people came from far off places for treatment.
The modern Roman Baths complex also encloses the Pump Room and the Assembly Room which were the principal meeting places in the Victorian era. The Pump Room has been converted into a café where the natural spring water is available for drinking.
From the Roman Baths we went to the Victoria Art Gallery. The art gallery is located at one end of the Pulteney Bridge. The specialty of this bridge is the presence of shops along both sides of the bridge. The windows at the back of the shops look down upon the River on either side. I rushed through the art gallery, not paying attention to the exhibits and the art because I was keen to move onto the next place on our list. We were to visit the Jane Austen centre next and I was so eager to go there that I considered the art gallery an absolute waste of time.
The Jane Austen centre is located in a house very similar to one that Jane Austen actually lived in while in Bath. The centre conducts the Jane Austen festival every September and a guided tour every day taking visitors through those places that Austen frequented and those mentioned in the books. Every half hour they conduct a short talk on the life of Jane Austen with special reference to her years in Bath. When we arrived the talk was just about to begin. Austen apparently lived in 4 different houses in span of 4 years in Bath as the family’s fortunes declined. This stay in Bath also influenced two of her novels which are set primarily in Bath. After the talk we went around the exhibition hall. There are costumes, pictures, quotations from her books on display, there are also pictures from Austen’s televised dramas that refer to Bath, there are paintings of Bath as it has been described in her novels and there is a televised walk along the streets of Jane Austen’s Bath. At the exit there is a store selling Jane Austen merchandise, and I could not leave without making some purchases. The visit to the Jane Austen centre was the zenith of my day. I soaked up the atmosphere of her books, recalled incidents and characters from the books and wished for the one person who I know would have enjoyed it every bit as much as I did.
We were the last to emerge from the centre, the rest of the group had already moved on, and we had to make it to the bus in just under an hour. We decided to walk towards the Royal crescent which is a crescent shaped residential complex. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a map and we came upon a crescent shaped area which we mistook as the Crescent and walked back after taking a couple of pictures. It was only later that we understood that what we had mistaken as the Crescent was in fact called the Circus and it was actually circular with roads moving outwards and breaking the circle at regular intervals. In our hurry, we failed to see the buildings behind us and assumed the structures in front to make up the Crescent. The Royal Crescent and the Circus symbolize the sun and the moon. This arrangement was also present in the original Roman Bath complex where stone carvings of the sun and the moon faced each other across the courtyard of Minerva’s temple.
Life in Bath today is so different from Jane Austen’s time. But there is an atmosphere in the place and a vivid imagination will suffice to bring all her characters to life. Oh Deepti…I wish you had come with me!
It was to this place then, that we went on our Christmas outing. Bath is in the southwest of England on the banks of the River Avon. It is famous for the only naturally-occurring hot springs in the United Kingdom.
The architecture of Bath is quite interesting. The houses are mostly built of pale-gold Bath stone and the buildings are quite large and at least 3-4 storeys tall. Small independent houses are very rarely seen except near the town centre. The roads slope upwards towards the town centre and people living in the lower buildings had to hire chair lifts or carriages if they did not want to walk. On the higher slopes of the hill are private houses with considerable grounds, they are probably the retreats of a wealthy few.
We reached Bath at around 11:30 in the morning and set off for the Roman Bath complex. The original Roman Baths were built by the Romans almost 2000 years ago and the ruins have been excavated and preserved in the modern complex. The modern complex dates back to the eighteenth century when the hot springs were visited for their healing powers. Today the pools fed by the hot springs still stand in all their glory though the waters are no longer in use for their healing properties.
On entering the complex, visitors are given audio guides in which a recorded voice describes the various important locations and displays. The reception hall leads out onto an enclosed corridor which offers the first glimpse of the Great Bath (the largest hot water pool in the complex). On either end of the corridor are doors leading out on to the terrace which overlooks the Great Bath. During our visit these doors were closed and the terrace was off limits.
From here we moved into the exhibition area which contains tombstones, weapons, art from the Roman era and a scale model of the entire complex. We then went to the Temple Courtyard. The original Roman building had a shrine dedicated to the Goddess Minerva. Today visitors can walk through the courtyard and see the remains of the altar and the steps of the shrine.
Further ahead we saw the original drainage system of the Baths – the spring overflow. The excess water from the spring that is not used in the Baths flows out to a Roman drain and from there to the River Avon.
We finally emerged out onto the stone courtyard beside the Great Bath. The water was quite warm though the air was quite chilly. Around the Great Bath are the smaller Baths known as the East Bath, West Bath and the circular Bath. The rooms retain the ruins of the ancient Roman room heating systems known as the Hypocaust. There are also detailed guides of how the baths were used by the Romans – how they progressed from the cold air outside to heated rooms and then into the hot baths, and then ended their bath with a dip in the cold pool.
The place was very fascinating. Imagine looking at stones 2000 years old, and the structures must have been so strong, since the base of the columns and some of the walls have been retained in their entirety. The room heating system is a marvel…who would’ve thought of central heating without electricity, but that is precisely what they had achieved. The whole place has an atmosphere; you can visualize wealthy, influential Romans entering the Baths with their retinue, the servants standing by while their masters enjoyed a hot relaxing bath and then helping them into stately costumes ready for an evening of entertainment. It might also have been akin to modern clubs or golf courses and important decisions might have been made while enjoying a dip in the hot bath.
A structure known as the Kings Bath was added to the original complex a few centuries later. This bath had niches for people to sit in, immersed up to their necks in water. The modern complex as it stands today was built in the eighteenth century. Though people did not come in there to bathe, the hot springs were supposed to have healing properties and people came from far off places for treatment.
The modern Roman Baths complex also encloses the Pump Room and the Assembly Room which were the principal meeting places in the Victorian era. The Pump Room has been converted into a café where the natural spring water is available for drinking.
From the Roman Baths we went to the Victoria Art Gallery. The art gallery is located at one end of the Pulteney Bridge. The specialty of this bridge is the presence of shops along both sides of the bridge. The windows at the back of the shops look down upon the River on either side. I rushed through the art gallery, not paying attention to the exhibits and the art because I was keen to move onto the next place on our list. We were to visit the Jane Austen centre next and I was so eager to go there that I considered the art gallery an absolute waste of time.
The Jane Austen centre is located in a house very similar to one that Jane Austen actually lived in while in Bath. The centre conducts the Jane Austen festival every September and a guided tour every day taking visitors through those places that Austen frequented and those mentioned in the books. Every half hour they conduct a short talk on the life of Jane Austen with special reference to her years in Bath. When we arrived the talk was just about to begin. Austen apparently lived in 4 different houses in span of 4 years in Bath as the family’s fortunes declined. This stay in Bath also influenced two of her novels which are set primarily in Bath. After the talk we went around the exhibition hall. There are costumes, pictures, quotations from her books on display, there are also pictures from Austen’s televised dramas that refer to Bath, there are paintings of Bath as it has been described in her novels and there is a televised walk along the streets of Jane Austen’s Bath. At the exit there is a store selling Jane Austen merchandise, and I could not leave without making some purchases. The visit to the Jane Austen centre was the zenith of my day. I soaked up the atmosphere of her books, recalled incidents and characters from the books and wished for the one person who I know would have enjoyed it every bit as much as I did.
We were the last to emerge from the centre, the rest of the group had already moved on, and we had to make it to the bus in just under an hour. We decided to walk towards the Royal crescent which is a crescent shaped residential complex. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a map and we came upon a crescent shaped area which we mistook as the Crescent and walked back after taking a couple of pictures. It was only later that we understood that what we had mistaken as the Crescent was in fact called the Circus and it was actually circular with roads moving outwards and breaking the circle at regular intervals. In our hurry, we failed to see the buildings behind us and assumed the structures in front to make up the Crescent. The Royal Crescent and the Circus symbolize the sun and the moon. This arrangement was also present in the original Roman Bath complex where stone carvings of the sun and the moon faced each other across the courtyard of Minerva’s temple.
Life in Bath today is so different from Jane Austen’s time. But there is an atmosphere in the place and a vivid imagination will suffice to bring all her characters to life. Oh Deepti…I wish you had come with me!
BlockBuster Blog :D
Considering the blog background, the way u write the screenplay & cinematography of u r travels, I can only say BlockBuster Blog :))
Only that I cudn't see the Star's stills as the site is blocked here :((
Posted by
Anonymous |
3:57 am