Palace gardens hid 900-year-old ruins of bathhouse in Spain — until now. See it
Outside a palace in southern Spain, construction workers started digging up the garden to install a safety feature. To their surprise, they stumbled upon the ruins of a forgotten building.
It turned out to be a 900-year-old bathhouse, hidden until now.
Construction workers planned to install a water tank for firefighting in the garden of Rubalcava Palace as part of ongoing restoration and conservation work at the site. As the team started digging along the fence, they unearthed something unexpected, the Orihuela City Council said in an April 10 news release.
Archaeologists identified the buried structure as part of an Arab bathhouse, officials said.
One section of the ruins was used as a hot room and had an underground heating system, officials said. Other sections were doorways leading to more yet-to-be-excavated rooms.
City officials shared photos of the medieval find in an April 10 Facebook post.
Matías Ruiz, an Orihuela council member, described the find as significant for its age and quality of preservation.
Officials plan to continue excavations at Rubalcava Palace to uncover more of the bathhouse ruins. They also said they intend to relocate the planned water tank and integrate the ruins into the garden as a new museum exhibit.
Orihuela is a small city near the coast of Spain and a roughly 260-mile drive southeast from Madrid.
Google Translate was used to translate the news release from the Orihuela City Council.
This story was originally published April 11, 2025 at 3:43 PM with the headline "Palace gardens hid 900-year-old ruins of bathhouse in Spain — until now. See it."
