Bath (and the reinvention of spa sociability) [ Cities / Politics & Society ]
… The ancient city of Bath renowned for its waters ever since the Roman era played a decisive role in reinventing spa sociability in the first half of the eighteenth century. At a time when the British nation was being forged, manners were crucial in the rivalry with France, as they were redefined in an attempt to create a distinct model of sociability. In watering-places micro-societies emerged and interacted in modes that were the result of the paradoxical cohabitation of pleasure and pain, of illness and fashion. In Bath, sociability aimed at healing the citizen’s body together with the body politic. Places > Cities Practices > Politics & …
Codes | Fashion | Health | Leisure | Politeness | Ritual | Spa
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