In many cultures, bathing in communal bathhouses has been an important social and even religious ritual. In Japan it is the sento, among Yiddish-speaking Jews, the shvitz, and in the Arab world the hammam, all of them centers for socializing across...

Public baths originated from a communal need for cleanliness. Often the term public is misleading to some people, as they will have restrictions based upon who can use the facility — elite members of the culture, men only, religious only. As societies...

The National Park Service and developers have signed a lease that should lead to the reopening of one of Hot Springs National Park's eight historic bathhouses.Quapaw Baths LLC signed the 55-year lease with the National Park Service to operate the Quapaw Bathhouse, the largest of...

When the last coal mine in Yubari closed down in 1990, city elders thought pumping tax money into an amusement park, hall of fossils, ski resort and robot museum would keep this remote snowbound town of 13,000 people afloat and on the map.More than a...