Plans for thermal spa bathing centre in Alhama de Murcia shelved for the time being

The thermal baths of Alhama have helped define the history of the town over the last two millennia

While the remodelling of the central Plaza La Constitución is under way in Alhama de Murcia this summer, a similar project at what used to be the fairground is also about to start in the autumn, a project which has been put on hold since the start of the current legislature in the Town Hall, and after that more work is planned in the Parque de La Cubana.

But, to the disappointment of some, the idea of creating a thermal baths centre appears to have been shelved, meaning that the plan to reinstate the feature which first led to the growth of the town in Moorish times, and which indeed explains the name of the town, is not about to reach fruition.

The idea was for the thermal bath centre to stand on the spot currently occupied by the Auditorio Municipal, which is soon to be demolished, according to regional newspaper La Verdad. Instead, that plot will remain bare, with no baths and no facilities.

The history of the thermal baths in Alhama actually goes back to far before the centuries of Moorish rule: some 2,000 years ago, in the 1^st century, when what is now Murcia was within the Roman Empire, people used to bathe in the mineral water springs which were at the foot of the hill where the castle now stands, and the Romans created an important spa complex which was in use until the 4^th century.

The tradition was revived under Moorish rule in the 11^th century, when the town was named “Al-Hamma”, but by 1494, when the German traveller Hieronymus Münzer came to Alhama, the baths were already in decline. The 19th century saw a revival, and in 1848 a large spa hotel was built, and some of the remains of the building can still be seen. In fact, the complex was used as a hospital during the Civil War, but the springs dried up and then in 1972 the building was mostly demolished.

It has now been replaced by the Los Baños archaeological museum, where exhibits are housed in some of the vaulted chambers which once welcomed bathers seeking to take advantage of the healing properties of the waters.

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