Despite what you might think, our ancestors - even the Parisians - did in fact wash (with an extant iconography). Perhaps not all of them and probably much less often than we do (until the second half of the 19th century, water was a scarce commodity in towns and had to be shared with the equine population). The Gallo-Romans had public baths, remains of which can still be seen at the corner of boulevards Saint Germain and Saint Michel. But there were other baths in the île de la Cité as well as rue des Ecoles and rue Gay-Lussac. Under king Philippe IV le Bel (reigned 1285-1314), Paris had roughly thirty steam baths for cleanliness and fun.
In the 18th century, public baths were installed on boats moored at Pont de la Tournelle and Pont Royal which solved the problem of water supply and disposal. On the eve of the Revolution (1789), the architect Lenoir built the luxurious "Bains Chinois" (Chinese baths) at 29 boulevard des Capucines and in 1789 a forerunner of the "spa" opened on the quai d'Orsay (today quai Anatole France / rue de Bellechasse). Doctors started to prescribe baths for medical reasons.
In the 19th century, more boats were moored in the river.
Personal hygien became the norm and the construction of pipelines for water and sewerage led to a proliferation of baths of all kinds (steam baths, mud baths, electric baths...) from up-market to dirt cheap - like those at 20 cents (1 euro) in front of the gare d'Austerlitz (Austerlitz railway station).
In the 20th century the city opened municipal "Bains Douches" (bathhouses) which were less ornate and cheaper (today free of charge). Some of them are twinned with a swimming pool or a gym and some have been demolished or converted e.g. St Merri in front of Centre Pompidou now a police station. Today there remain just under twenty of these working municipal "Bains Douches" and the Bidassoa have retained their dazzling interior.
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