Bain rituel juif de Strasbourg, Medieval ritual bath in central Strasbourg, France.
The Bain rituel juif de Strasbourg is a sunken square chamber of grey sandstone, about three metres on each side, under a red brick barrel vault. Four Romanesque stone corbels project at the upper corners, and a circular opening 0.90 m across pierces the vault's centre. A basin in the floor held at least 500 litres of groundwater, reached by a staircase of grey and pink sandstone whose remains are still visible.
Built around 1200, this ritual bath served the Jewish community until violence during the Black Death in 1349 forced them out. The tragedy of that year marked the end of medieval Jewish life in Strasbourg.
The name of the neighbouring house, Zum Judenbad ("At the Jewish Bath"), recorded from the late 16th century at 19 rue des Juifs, kept the memory of the bath alive after the community's departure. Two niches in the walls held candles, and the room beside the square chamber is thought to have served for undressing.
Access to the bath requires descending stairs into an underground chamber located beneath the old town's modern streets. Visits are typically guided tours that help visitors understand the confined underground space and its historical context.
The well found during excavation was off-centre from the circular opening in the vault, a discrepancy archaeologists still debate. Its base survives as four stone slabs about 1 m wide, 1.3 m high and 12 cm thick. A wooden structure of 1.70 m by 1.50 m at the bottom of the basin, with interlocking corners typical of the 11th or 12th century, was probably retaining formwork used during construction.
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