Soaking in History: The Gellert Baths of Budapest

By Kei Yong

Known as the ‘City of Spas’, Budapest hosts numerous bath houses visited by locals and tourists. Given its rich history and location, visitors of the thermal baths can soak in mineral-rich waters whilst admiring the different architectural bodies of each institution. The Gellert Bathhouse is most famous for its Art Nouveau décor, but it is also one out of many of these spa houses that have tracked its country’s cultural heritage alongside its history with geothermal pools for centuries. Showcasing its Hungarian roots, its time under the occupation of the Ottoman Empire, and the artistic movements circulating in the nineteenth century, each room within the building is splendidly ornated to hint at the significant cultural changes the country has experienced as well as carry these hot spring waters that have healed generations of people.

Entrance to Gellert Spa from Kelenhegyi Street, image sourced from Gellert Spa.

Most of the baths and spas are located on the Buda side of the city given that it lies on a geographical fault line where the Buda Hills collide with the Great Plain. This causes more than 100 thermal springs to rise and release around 40,000m3 of warm, mineral-rich water each day. Located at the bottom of Gellert Hill, the Gellert springs were first used by Hungarian King Andrew II who built a small hospital next to the body of water and used it to heal, clean, and restore his people. They were also used for religious cleansing by knights and Hungarian monks until the Turkish conquest of Hungary in 1526 when official bathhouses, known as ilidzas, were established. King Andrew II’s hospital was converted into a Turkish bath called Acik Illye which is the original foundation for what would become the modern-day Gellert Baths. Although it is subtle and can be outshone by the Art Nouveau restoration, the steam baths located in the side rooms of the building still demonstrate characteristics of the bath’s Turkish legacy. These thermal baths ranging from temperatures of thirty-six degrees Celsius to forty degrees Celsius are adorned with a geometric variation of blue tiles for the pools of water, another variation in maroon to accentuate the vaults, and botanical and arabesque motifs to frame the arches of the room.

Gellert Indoor Bath, image sourced from AFAR Magazine.

The infrastructure that we see today was built in the nineteenth century when the old Hammam baths were demolished alongside other buildings in the vicinity to make room for the Liberty Bridge that crosses the Danube. For its reconstruction, many designs were considered before choosing the notable Art Nouveau style with its external design of sinuous arches and organically bulbous balconies. Within these same side rooms of thermal baths, visitors can not only see how similar these key traits of Ottoman Islamic design are similar to the sensual ornamentation of Art Nouveau. The green curved ceilings of these side rooms are richly adorned frames of arabesque embellishments of vines and geometric shapes that are made of small blue, yellow, red, and white tiles, and are very reminiscent of stained-glass windows. The rooms also possess some Baroque characteristics with their cherub ornamented fountains and pillars. Since the indoor baths are below floor level, rows of square skylights are used for the interior of the building to mimic the conditions outdoors. In the morning, the daylight might offer a rejuvenating start to your day, but as the hours go by, the baths become more serene and lethargic under the low glow and plumes of humid steam.

Art Nouveau Hall, image sourced from Gellert Spa.

Bathing in the mineral baths whilst basking in the rich architecture could undoubtedly be described as a surreal experience. The colours and symmetry make you feel as if you were in a Wes Anderson movie, not only within the baths but the whole city of Budapest itself. The indoor pool, most notably described to be within the Art Nouveau Hall, is where you would find the more serious swimmers in these baths. In this thirty-six degrees Celsius pool, you will find people in their swimming caps doing laps up and down the length of the hall in unison. The room is decorated with more skylights, serpentine railings for the first-floor viewers to look down on the swimmers, as well as ionic and Corinthian pillars whose shafts are carved with geometrical designs of botany. This section also tends to be occupied by older visitors who fashion vintage-style swim caps adorned with rubber flowers. Indeed, once you consider the size and grandeur of the whole building and how it caters to so many people, it further emphasizes this hypnagogic experience where so much culture is condensed inside.

On the other hand, the Gellert Spas do possess a particular clinical and eerie aura to them. There are certain connotations that follow the scent of chlorine and white and blue tiles. What comes to mind is not the obvious choice of public pools but of hospitals which still makes sense given the building’s history. Even through its drastic transformation over the centuries into a building that visually conveys no connotations to death, one cannot shake off a small but still haunting feeling that is difficult to define. The symmetry of the arabesque designs and the serpentine flows embodied by the Art Nouveau architecture in this hot humid experience makes it seem as if participants of it are in a sort of trance.

Perhaps it could just be an underlying anxiety of nosocomephobia, the fear of hospitals, or the overwhelming smell of disinfectant, but the overall surreal experience of the Gellert Baths should not be passed if you ever visit Budapest. To be able to heal the body as you immerse yourself in Budapest’s history surrounding mineral bathing and the culture of it as a social hub is like killing multiple birds with one stone.

Notes:

Fahey, Daniel. “A Guide to Budapest's Thermal Baths.” Lonely Planet, August 3, 2022. https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/a-guide-to-budapests-thermal-baths

‘Gellert Spa Bath History.’ Gellert Spa, October 8, 2013. http://gellertspa.com/gellert-spa-bath-history