Medicinal waters
Medicinal waters include mineral water and thermal water. They are called as such because they have certain medicinal qualities due to their chemical composition or physical characteristics. We can ingest them or bathe in them, but it is important to know what type of medicinal water should be used for a given malady, which mostly depends on composition and purpose.
The healing power of thermal waters were also known to our ancestors, and they often attributed biblical powers to them. Medicinal waters have a certain magical quality because they spring from the depth of the Earth, where minerals and salts that are indispensable for fighting diseases get dissolved in them. These waters are often used, for example, for treating musculoskeletal diseases.
Roman baths
Hungary also became a province at the time of the Roman conquests, which also had its many advantages. Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of 23 of the Roman baths built around that time. These baths with mosaic floors and wall frescos were also platforms for social life, as they also included restaurants and taverns. The baths were a kind of gathering place for the community, where all layers of society were represented and could thus exchange ideas about current affairs and get refreshed at the same time.
Both the water and the air were heated with an underfloor heating system. Their vast structures were due to the fact that men and women were not allowed to bathe in the same space, so a separate wing was built for each gender. Lack of space was no justification for frivolity either; in such cases, women used the bath in the morning and the gentlemen in the afternoon.
In Budapest, the so-called Roman beach is reminiscent of the era in its name. Thermal water was conducted from the area of the present-day Roman Bath through aqueducts. Apart from Aquincum, Hajógyár island also housed a bath in the governor’s palace. Roman baths were not only found in Óbuda, but also in Nemesvámos-Balácapuszta, Balatongyörök and Örvényes among other towns.
The middle ages, thriving and the plague
In the era following the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian basin, the first significant relic is from 1178, when there was a town called Felhévíz in the area of the present-day Lukács and Császár baths. This is when a hospital was built where Gellért bath stands today, which also functioned as a bath. Bathing houses were called “royal baths” at the time of King Mathias, as the king himself regularly took to visiting them. The closed corridor leading from the Castle to Rác bath was a testament to that.
The bathing culture went into decline across Europe in the second half of the middle ages due to the widespread belief that water facilitates the spread of the plague; so they were all closed down.
The golden age of thermal springs during the Turkish occupation
The Turkish occupation of Hungary came in the footsteps of the destruction of the plague, but with the regard to the baths, the Turks brought nothing but benefits. The new baths built on top of thermal springs were radically new and particular in their style, embodying a new kind of communal bathing culture.
Several new baths were built on the right side of the Danube, one of the most stylish of them being the hammams, which were architectural and artistic achievements in design and decoration. Hammans was built right on top of the thermal springs for religious reasons, as according to Islam, only spring water is suitable for personal cleansing. In addition, various thermal baths were also erected.
From this era, we have the Turkish baths Rudas and Király, as well as the domed pools of Rác bath and Veli beg, the most prominent Turkish bath of the era supposedly built by Mustafa Szokoli, nowadays operating under the name “Veli bey bath of the merciful.”
The 18th and 19th century – the rediscovery of treasures
The baths were neglected and their conditions deteriorated after the Turkish rule. Interest in the medicinal waters of Buda and their physiological benefits didn’t recover until the 18th century. The first significant publication of Hungarian balneology was published in 1721: Thermographia Budensis, written by Lőrinc Stockert. In addition to its scientific significance, it also popularized the baths of Buda.
The third great era of the Buda baths came with the period of Enlightenment. Elements of Russian popular bathing culture started to seep into Hungarian baths and steam baths would often be referred to as Russian steam, used by men and women alike. The Northern bathing culture based primarily on thermal stress effect – like sauna, hot-air and steam cabins and cold-water pools – were also gaining in popularity.
The new wave of thermal waters – present day
Bathing culture in Budapest started booming again in the second half of the 19th century. Many thermal wells were drilled and numerous baths renovated or rebuilt, for example Császár and later Lukács bath. They finished construction of the Saint Margaret Thermal Bath on Margaret island as well as the swimming pool section of the Rudas bath.
The Hungarian National Balneological Association was formed in 1891 with numerous renowned experts among the members. The Budapest Bath City Association was established in 1922, followed by the Budapest Municipal Company of Thermal Baths and Springs in 1949, which took over the operation of the previously private nationalized baths. Following the fall of Communism, reconstruction began on many of Budapest’s thermal baths, such as Széchenyi Thermal Bath and Lukács Bath, and renovations on the historical Gellért Bath were also completed.
