In 1987 Bath was selected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in recognition not only of its remarkable Georgian architecture, but also because it is home to one of the best preserved Roman Bath-houses in Northern Europe. The city has exerted a peculiar fascination on each generation since the Romans first discovered its healing waters and constructed a complex of bathing houses around the year 60 AD. Although to the modern mind Bath is the grand Georgian city which was once the home of Jane Austen and Lord Nelson, there is a rich and layered past beyond its Georgian facade.

History

During the Roman occupation of Britain, Bath occupied a similar position as it does today, amounting to a resort-city where the professional classes would come to enjoy the healing waters of the 'sacred spring'. During The Dark Ages the Roman-led social structure crumbled and the city underwent a long period of neglect. In a characteristic fusion of myth and reality, Bath is thought by some to be the site of the Battle of Mons Badonicus, at which King Arthur is said to have defeated the Saxons (c. 500 AD).

In 973 Edgar the First, King of all England, was crowned in the old Abbey. By 1088 the papal policy of moving bishops to more urban seats led to the city becoming a Bishopric and growing in size and stature until Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s. Under the reign of Elizabeth I, the city was awarded city status by Royal Charter (1590) and also became a popular spa resort once more, a trend which continued over subsequent centuries.

The city's popularity rocketed after 1676 when Thomas Guidott, who had been a student of chemistry and medicine at Wadham College Oxford, became interested in the supposed health-giving properties of the spa water and wrote A Discourse of Bathe, and the Hot Waters there. Also, Some Enquiries into the Nature of the Water. Soon the aristocracy were arriving in droves and by the early 18th century there was an increased demand for accommodation and entertainment.

The Master of Ceremonies, Richard 'Beau' Nash, who presided over the city's social life from 1705 until his death in 1761, was instrumental in Bath's acquisition of its first purpose-built theatre, the Theatre Royal, and the Grand Pump Room, which was built alongside the Roman Baths. By the late 18th century the architects John Wood the elder and John Wood the younger had completed much of the neoclassical overhaul of the city's layout and by the beginning of the 19th century Bath was a thriving spa resort and social hub, hosting the most eminent figures of Georgian society.

The population had reached 40,020 by the time of the 1801 census, making it one of the largest cities in Britain. Two hundred years later the population has doubled to 83,992 (according to the 2001 census), but Bath was barely affected by the massive rise in urban populations which occurred during the Victorian period of industrialisation, partly due to its privileged status as a playground for the rich.

Architecture

Three men are principally responsible for the city we see today: the architects John Wood the elder, his son John Wood the younger and Ralph Allen, the owner of the Bath-stone mines at Combe Down and Bathampton Down, who supplied the stone for their neoclassical designs. Robert Adam, the Scottish architect who masterminded much of the neoclassical designs of Edinburgh during the same period, also left his own mark by designing Pulteney Bridge. At the time Pulteney Bridge was one of only two bridges in Europe to have dwellings and shops on it, the other being the Ponte Vecchio in Florence.

The ideal of rus in urbe (the countryside in the city) pervaded much neoclassical architecture and civic planning and, with as much focus on parks, arboretums and leafy squares as the classical buildings themselves, Bath is a powerful illustration of how fruitful this can be. However, the concept of rus in urbe was not limited to the parks and green spaces. In fact it is embedded in the city and visible in the layout of two of Bath's most significant architectural achievements. The palatial Royal Crescent was designed to represent a crescent moon and the Circus was symbolic of the sun, thus the fabric of the city is a tribute to natural cycles. John Wood the younger was also interested in occult and Masonic symbolism and the Circus, along with Gay Street and Queen Square, forms a key shape which is also a Masonic symbol.

Culture

Culturally, Bath has always been wealthy, attracting the nation's finest actors, artists and writers. In its Georgian heyday, it was home to Thomas Gainsborough, William Beckford, Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, and William Wordsworth. During the Victorian period Charles Dickens wrote his first novel The Pickwick Papers at The Saracen's Head on Walcot Street and Thomas Hardy wrote one of his earliest love poems 'Midnight on Beechen Cliff' overlooking the city from Alexandria Park.

The post-Impressionist painter Walter Sickert made his home in Bath during the 1930s and revealed the unique light of the city in a collection of paintings which were proudly exhibited in the city's Victoria Art Gallery in 2008. The Bath scenes which Sickert painted, pay close attention to the luminosity of Bath stone under a variety of different conditions, and capture something of the majesty of the city.

Sickert's fascination with Bath has been inherited by Peter Brown, a contemporary artist who lives and works in Bath, painting life-scenes of the city and the iconic features of its landscape. Brown's paintings seem to capture the quintessential Bath: a historic city of monuments in which each new generation makes a home and, in doing so, reinvents the city. Often there is a subtle yet visible incongruity in the overlay of modern technology and contemporary dress on the graceful structures of the old city.

The Theatre Royal has long been an important provincial theatre with a great reputation. Over the years it has been established as one of the nation's main practice-grounds for theatre companies destined for the West End. In July and August 2010 the Theatre Royal Ustinov showcased the World Premiere of a new adaptation of Ford Maddox Ford's The Good Soldier, which it had commissioned from the play and screen writer Julian Mitchell, to widespread critical acclaim.

The Modern City

In 2006 the Thermae Bath Spa opened in the centre of the city, a hundred yards from the Roman Baths. This modern spa, with four floors of various pools and treatment rooms (including a cafe and rooftop pool), in many ways completes a circle and confirms that the modern city has the very same appeal that it once had for the Romans. Two thousand years after the discovery of the 'sacred spring' Bath remains a popular spa-resort with a thriving tourist trade.

With a lively art scene, the city has also become a popular location for arts festivals; with Bath Fringe, Bath International Music Festival, Bath Film Festival and Bath Literature Festival all attracting thousands of visitors. It is also the home of one of the best rugby teams in the Guinness Premiership. Beloved by the native population, Bath Rugby play at the Recreation Ground in the very heart of the city and on match days the whole city shakes to the roar of the fans.

Bath has two Universities which variously reflect the creative and sporting achievements of the city. The University of Bath was established in 1966 and has well respected Science, Engineering and Sport departments, and eagerly awaits the 2012 Olympic Games when it will be used as the preparation ground for many of the world's finest athletes. Bath Spa University was granted University status in 2005 and has a focus on humanities and creative subjects, with well-respected Art and Design, English and Creative Studies and Music departments among others.

Bath attracts people from all walks of life for all sorts of reasons and ultimately the one common fact to all who come is that it is simply a pleasure to be in Bath. It must be true to say that what first attracted the Romans and later inspired the Georgians remains as potent today as it ever was. It is a city which has inspired the imagination of so many generations and simultaneously it is the fruit of an architectural imagination freed from restraint, in which the neoclassical ideals of the architects John Wood the elder and John Wood the younger found an enduring legacy.