Wall covering plate

Marble fragments of the wall covering, present remains of a decoration with geometric motifs.

These remains of wall covering are specifically part of the porticoed area of the natatio that was outdoors.

The coating served to camouflage the structures with a noble or decorative material. In the Augustan period, the intense exploitation of marble allowed the cutting of thin, serrated plates, which made the most refined decorations more affordable.

Marble is a material that facilitates waterproofing, hygiene of some areas and promotes the feeling of warmth. The beauty of marble when it is polished, without the need for other treatments, makes it a particularly advisable material for a space as particular as public bathrooms, since both its shine and the polychrome varieties give it a high decorative value, highly appreciated from the antiquity.

Marble from the French Pyrenees is used in the Caesaraugusta thermal baths, specifically, from the Saint Béat quarry. Once the thermal baths were no longer used, this marble was used for other buildings.