Roman Bath Viehmarktthermen Augusta Treverorum (Treves)

The Baths at Viehmarkt (also Viehmarktthermen) in Trier are a Roman bath complex located near the forum of the Roman city – Augusta Treverorum. The baths get their name from the square under which they were discovered, the so-called "Viehmarkt" (Cattle Market).

The Viehmarkt Baths and the remains of the buildings of a Capuchin monastery erected on their grounds are now protected by a structure designed by architect Oswald Mathias Ungers and are accessible for visits and events.

The Romans began construction of the bath complex around 80 AD. It was thus the first bath complex in Trier (older than the Barbara Baths and the Imperial Baths). Construction of the Viehmarkt Baths was completed approximately 20 years later. The baths were designed so that the warm bath received light from the warm south. The cold bath had its windows in the cold north.

The 8364 m² bath complex was most heavily used in the 3rd and 4th centuries. After the decline of Roman Trier, the baths were no longer used as a bathing facility and fell into disrepair over the centuries. In the 13th century, the bath ruins lost substance as they were quarried for stone.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Capuchin order erected some buildings over the eastern part of the ruins. The remaining area was used by the order to build a monastery garden, which in 1802, after the dissolution of the monastery, became the so-called Viehmarkt as a marketplace. The ruins fell into oblivion, and it was generally assumed that there were only two bath complexes in Trier (the Barbara Baths and the Imperial Baths).