Land of healing, thermal and mineral waters

Ever since the ancient physicians Hippocrates and Galen discovered the beneficial effects of warm, high mineral content waters on the human body, baths have played a very important role in European culture. Thanks to its geological characteristics, Hungary is one of the centres of this culture as there is an unparalleled supply of healing, thermal and mineral water springs beneath almost the entire country.

Thousands of years of bath culture

The ancient Romans already boasted a very developed bath culture, especially in the Pannonia-province, which corresponds to the western part of Hungary today. The warm water baths they built were indispensable assets of cultural life, entertainment and hygiene. Archaeologists have so far uncovered 11 baths in the former Roman settlement of Aquincum, located within the boundaries of Budapest. Christians also pursued the tradition; monks built monasteries and hospitals in the vicinity of mineral water springs from the 6th century onwards.

The Hungarians arriving to the Carpathian-basin in the 9th century also revered the forces of nature, waters, springs and warm water springs, and liked to settle near warm water springs. Hungarian thermal baths became renowned especially in the Middle Ages, during the reign of Sigismund of Luxembourg (1368-1437). Thermal bath culture also flourished during the period of king Matthias Corvinus (1443-1490): according to contemporary records, a covered alley connected the Rácz bath, located at the foot of the Gellért hill on the Danube bank, with the Royal Castle.

Bathculture did not decline in Hungary during the one and a half century of Turkish occupation either. Just as they did in other regions of their empire, the Turks also built baths in Hungary  namely in Buda, Pécs, Szeged, Esztergom, Szolnok and Eger. Only the ones in Eger and in Budapest are remained of the baths testifying to a unique culture with their individual and particular style. Thus close to half a millennium later we still have the opportunity to admire and even to experience these Turkish baths. Apart from being a place of leisure and relaxation, the baths were also an important venue for the social life of the Turks. Women and men were both allowed to enter, but either on separate days or in separate chambers. A few baths in Budapest still observe this tradition; perhaps the best known among them is the Rudas bath in Budapest.

After the Turks were driven out, Hungarian bath culture started to flourish again in the last decades of the 18th century. Hungary’s mineral waters were first charted at the beginning of the 19th century. The opening of the Széchenyi Thermal Bath, the largest bath complex of Europe, in 1913 was a milestone in the history of bath culture development. This period saw the construction of wonderful secessionist baths in Budapest such as the Gellért Hotel and Bath, where the first International Balneology Congress was organised in 1937.

Of the more than 200 baths and thermal springs of Hungary, Europe’s largest thermal water lake, located close to Lake Balaton in Hévíz, must be mentioned by all means. The cave bath in Miskolctapolca with its cold karst and warm thermal waters is one of a kind, just like the therapeutic waters of Egerszalók, also located in Northern Hungary, where the steam drifts from the white calcium crystal terraces nested among green hills.

Developing medical tourism

Hungaryis an excellent place to pamper body and soul. A wide range of therapeutic and wellness services await those wishing to heal and to regenerate. More than 350 facilities throughout Hungary, thermal baths, sanatoriums, therapeutic caves, high quality wellness hotels provide a wide spectrum of services – among them numerous versions of traditional healing – for regeneration and rest. Larger baths offer an abundance of opportunities for young people as well: more and more Budapest baths offer night-time music parties on the weekends for those who do not only look for rest and relaxation. 

USEFUL LINKS:

Hungary’s official tourism site:
http://www.hungary.com/spa-wellness

Budapestthermal baths:
http://www.budapestgyogyfurdoi.hu/en

Hévíz:
http://www.heviz-info.hu/tofurdo.html

The cave bath in Miskolctapolca:
http://www.barlangfurdo.hu/index.php?page_id=217

Egerszalók:
http://www.egerszalokinfo.hu/