Termas Romanas do Alto da Cividade

About

The Termas Romanas do Alto da Cividade reveal one of Braga’s most impressive archaeological sites, offering a vivid look into daily life in ancient Bracara Augusta. Discovered in the 1970s, this large thermal complex once served as a social and cultural hub where citizens gathered to bathe, exercise, and meet. Visitors can still identify the frigidarium, tepidarium, and caldarium, along with traces of the heating systems that once warmed the rooms. The scale of the ruins highlights the importance of the baths within the Roman city, reflecting both engineering skill and refined urban planning. Today, the site stands as a quiet yet powerful reminder of Braga’s long history, allowing modern visitors to walk through spaces shaped nearly two thousand years ago and imagine the rhythms of Roman life that once filled them.

Braga Portugal

Location

Termas Romanas do Alto da Cividade, also known as the Roman Thermae of Maximinus, are located on the hilltop of Alto da Cividade in the Maximinos neighborhood, just outside Braga's medieval walled center in northern Portugal, along Rua Dr. Rocha Peixoto. Nestled within a protected archaeological zone, these 2nd-century public baths form part of ancient Bracara Augusta's urban expansion. Nearby lie the ruins of an attached Roman theater discovered in 1999, visible from the site though not fully excavated or visitable; the Fonte do Ídolo Roman sanctuary across the area; the opulent Palácio do Raio mansion; and easy access to Braga's historic core with the Sé Cathedral, Arco da Porta Nova, and bustling Avenida da Liberdade, blending Roman heritage with the city's Baroque splendor.

Museum of Archaeology D. Diogo de Sousa