Bathroom

The unusual room, also known as King Faruk’s bath because of its obvious oriental and neo-Pompeian references, was commissioned by the Kees family and was equipped with every comfort: heated by a powerful German-made central heating system, still in working order, which also produced hot air through the vents in the side walls. It was richly decorated with the imposing bathtub, adorned with majolica, marble and elegant finishing touches, such as the graceful tap with swan heads and beak endings. As J. von Falke pointed out in 1873, even at Villa Monastero a modern man “lives and sleeps in the 18th century, but dines in the 16th century, sometimes smokes cigars and drinks coffee in the Orient while bathing in Pompeii or ancient Greece“.