the palace of the baths thermarum of which a solid and lofty hall still subsists in the rue de la harpe the buildings covered a considerable space of the modern quarter of the university and the gardens under the merovingian kings communicated with the abbey of st germain des prés by the injuries of time and the normans this ancient palace was reduced in the twelfth century to a maze of ruins whose dark recesses were the scene of licentious love