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Cure, Leisure, and Exercise: The Emerging Spa Landscapes in Eighteenth- and Early Nineteenth-Century Hungary

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Salutogenic Urbanism

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Abstract

The idea that thermal baths in conjunction with parks could provide public health benefits was increasingly widespread across early modern Europe. The subject of this chapter is the emergence of spa landscapes as a distinct category of town planning in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Hungary, then part of the Habsburg Empire. In the examples discussed, the urban core was typically adjacent to a large public park designed, according to the fashion of the time, in an “English” manner that combined geometric and naturalistic elements. Walking alleys usually extended into the surrounding countryside, connecting it to the town and providing further exercise opportunities for the more adventurous and able-bodied among the visitors. Various architectural features, such as pavilions, served as orientation points and resting, conversation, and viewing spots. These large-scale interventions transformed the traditional spa resorts with their narrowly defined medicinal agendas into popular landscapes of leisure and healing, while the integrated approach to urban and rural areas set an early model of green infrastructure planning.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    V. Eidloth, “Kleine historische Geographie europäischer Kurstädte und Badeorte im 19. Jahrhundert,” in Europäische Kurstädte und Modebäder des 19. Jahrhunderts, ed. V. Eidloth (Stuttgart: Konrad Theiss, 2012), 24.

  2. 2.

    C.C.L. Hirschfeld, Theorie der Gartenkunst. Vol. V. (Leipzig: Weidmann, 1785), 85-119.

  3. 3.

    E. Schmidt, “Kuranlagen des 19. Jahrhunderts in Deutschland: Landscahaftsarchitectur, Nutzungsabgebot, Beitrag zur Stadtstruktur,” in Eidloth, Europäische Kurstädte und Modebäder des 19. Jahrhunderts, 181.

  4. 4.

    Ibid., 183.

  5. 5.

    G. Hajós, “Die Stadtparks der österreichischen Monarchie von 1765 bis 1867 im gesamteuropäischen Kontext,” in Stadtparks in der österreichischen Monarchie 1765–1918, ed. G. Hajós (Vienna: Böhlau, 2007), 74.

  6. 6.

    D. Alfter, “Alleen als Ursprungformen von Kuraparkanlagen: Das Beispiel Bad Pyrmont,” in Between Healing and Pleasure: Spa Parks and Spa Gardens in Europe, ed. V. Eidloth, P. Martin, and K. Schulze (Stuttgart: Thorbecke, 2020), 94 and 96.

  7. 7.

    D. Renault, “Vichy, a Spa Town Constructed around Scenic Parkways—Sketch of a Spa Town,” in Eidloth, Martin, and Schulze, Between Healing and Pleasure, 151.

  8. 8.

    K. Schulze, “Kurgärten und Kurparks in Europa—ein Überblick zu Characteristika und Vielfalt ihrer Anlage und Gestaltung,” in Eidloth, Martin, and Schulze, Between Healing and Pleasure, 18; I. Formann, “Wilhelmsbad—ein Kurpark des 18. Jahrhunderts: Geschichte, Entwicklung, Bestand,” in Eidloth, Martin, and Schulze, Between Healing and Pleasure, 34.

  9. 9.

    V. Eidloth, “Die ganze Landschaft ein Garten? Historische Kurorte ‘… und ihre Umgebungen,’” in Eidloth, Martin, and Schulze, Between Healing and Pleasure, 179–97.

  10. 10.

    “Great Spas of Europe,” Great Spas of Europe, accessed January 25, 2021, https://greatspasofeurope.org/.

  11. 11.

    The sorry state of roads and travel facilities in Hungary was vividly described, among others, by the English naturalist Robert Townson. See R. Townson, Travels in Hungary (London: Robinson, 1797).

  12. 12.

    See K. Póczy, Közművek a római kori Magyarországon (Budapest: Műszaki, 1980), 60 and 136n77, respectively. In Hévíz, an altar stone dedicated to Jupiter was unearthed near one of the mineral springs.

  13. 13.

    Póczy, Közművek a római kori Magyarországon, 110.

  14. 14.

    All the surviving four Turkish baths in Buda are hot spring baths (kaplıca or ılıca), which the Ottomans distinguished from steam baths (hamam); originally, their number was equal. Three out of these four currently have medieval origins, according to the archeological evidence; see Gőző Gerő, Az oszmán-török építészet Magyarországon (Dzsámik, türbék, fürdők) (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1980). According to Balázs Sudár, in parts of Hungary occupied by the Ottomans, it was common to continue using medieval or earlier spas. See Sudár, Balázs, “Török fürdők a hódoltságban,” Történelmi Szemle vol. 44 no. 3–4 (2003): 213–63.

  15. 15.

    G. Werner, De admirandis Hungariae aquis hypomnemation (Vienna: Egidius Aquila, 1551).

  16. 16.

    Z. Szőkefalvi-Nagy, “Magyarországi gyógyvízvizsgálatok a XVIII. században,” Communicationes Ex Bibliotheca Historiae Medicae Hungarica vol. 25 (1962): 166–67.

  17. 17.

    H.J.N. von Crantz, Gesundbrunnen der Oesterreichische Monarchie (Vienna: Joseph Gerold, 1777).

  18. 18.

    Ibid., 131.

  19. 19.

    Ibid., 3.

  20. 20.

    Ibid., 185.

  21. 21.

    Vince Beér, Situation map of the spa of Bártfa and its environs, late 18th century, National Archives of Hungary, OL, S 11, No. 1269.

  22. 22.

    Unknown author, Hydraulic plan of the canal to be constructed to the spa at Félixfürdő, end of 18th century, National Archives of Hungary, OL, S 12, Div. VII, No. 8.

  23. 23.

    Werner, De admirandis Hungariae aquis hypomnemation, 12v.

  24. 24.

    Antal Mogyoróssy (copier/draughtsman), General plan for the layout of the hot spring spa in the diocesan estate of Nagyvárad, c.1775, Hungarian National Library, Map Collection, TK 710.

  25. 25.

    Carl Heinrich von Geispitzheim et al., Plans, designs, cost estimates and other supporting documents for and correspondence on the development proposal for the mineral spring spa at Herlány, mostly 1787, National Archives of Hungary, OL, E 128 1787, 427:1; OL, S 11, No. 1737/1-3; OL, T 62, No. 1391/1-5.

  26. 26.

    Baron József Vécsey and János Norbert Zábroczky, Survey and register of the Treasury estate of Peklény, 1763, National Archives of Hungary, OL, E 156, Fasc. 149, No. 47, f. 9r.

  27. 27.

    Crantz, Gesundbrunnen der Oesterreichische Monarchie, 185. It is referenced under the name of “Rankotz,” which the author probably derived from the Slovakian name of the village, Rankovce. It was known as Rankowetz to the German population.

  28. 28.

    Molnár, B. Kassa orvosi története (Kassa: Wiko, 1944), 50 and 139.

  29. 29.

    Michael von Kraschenitsch, Letter to the Hungarian Royal Chamber Administration, 1787, National Archives of Hungary, OL, E 128, 1787, 427:1, f. 85v.

  30. 30.

    Lajos Ernő Mayer, Report on the chemical examination of the mineral water of Herlány, dated in Kassa on October 17, 1786, National Archives of Hungary, OL, E 128, 1787, 427:1, f. 68v.

  31. 31.

    The curious omission of Lessing and other, now better-known authors, is noteworthy.

  32. 32.

    Hirschfeld, Theorie der Gartenkunst, V: 68–74.

  33. 33.

    Carl Heinrich von Geispitzheim, Project proposal and cost estimates in support of his designs for the development of the Herlány spa, 1787, National Archives of Hungary, OL, E 128, 1787, 427:1, f. 4r.

  34. 34.

    Hirschfeld, Theorie der Gartenkunst, V: 88. The only physician omitted by Geispitzheim, Berger, was most likely the Danish court physician Johann Just von Berger (1723–91), rather than his half-brother, the Hanoverian court physician and colleague of Zimmermann there, Christoph Wilhelm von Berger (1727–63).

  35. 35.

    Carl Heinrich von Geispitzheim, Letter to the Imperial and Royal Chamber Administration in Kassa in support of his project proposal, 11 June 1787, National Archives of Hungary, OL, E 128, 1787, 427:1, f. 51v.

  36. 36.

    Ibid., f. 51v.

  37. 37.

    Ibid., f. 52v.

  38. 38.

    Carl Heinrich von Geispitzheim, Project proposal and cost estimates in support of his designs for the development of the Herlány spa, 1787, National Archives of Hungary, OL, E 128, 1787, 427:1, f. 7r. Geispitzheim reckoned that the Herlány water came very close to the famed carbonated mineral water of Selters an der Lahn in Germany, which gave its name to the modern carbonated or fizzy water often called “seltzer.”

  39. 39.

    Ibid., 30r.

  40. 40.

    Ibid., f. 50v.

  41. 41.

    Ibid., f. 50v.

  42. 42.

    Ibid., f. 52r.

  43. 43.

    Ibid., ff. 56-.

  44. 44.

    Ibid., f. 90r. Five architectural designs, all by Geispitzheim, were drawn as part of this project and are in the Hungarian National Archive (MNL, OL, T 62, No. 1391/1-5). The Austrian National Archive also holds a design for the houses of the physician and the sculptor from 1787 (AT-OeStA/AVA PKF PS II A-XV-c/24), which were likely added as part of this project. Earlier, Geispitzheim attached a drawing of a new bath house, engraved by Johann Ernst Mansfeld in Vienna in the form of a fan (ff. 7r and 14r), presumably in an attempt to convey further improvements that he envisaged for Herlány.

  45. 45.

    Ibid., ff. 95–96 and 97–98, respectively.

  46. 46.

    Bíró, J. “Batthyány Tódor hajóépítő és hajózási kísérletei,” A Közlekedési Múzeum évkönyve vol. 1 (1971): 239–64.

  47. 47.

    Crantz, Gesundbrunnen der Oesterreichische Monarchie, 174–75. Crantz’s informant was a medical student that he referred to as Tolnay, almost certainly Sándor Tolnay (1747–1818), later an acclaimed veterinarian. Crantz, however, was not the first to examine the chemical and medical properties of the mineral water at Tatzmannsdorf, as this had been the subject of Ignatz Wetsch’s doctoral dissertation published in Vienna in 1763.

  48. 48.

    R. Witsch, “Der Gesundbrunnen von Tatzmannsdorf zur Kur-Zeit,” Zeitschrift von und für Ungern zur Beförderung der vaterländischen Geschichte, Erdkunde und Literatur vol. I no. 2 (1802): 193–201.

  49. 49.

    K. Fatsar, “European Travellers and the Transformation of Garden Art in Hungary at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century,” Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes vol. 36, no. 3 (2016): 177–79; K. Fatsar, “Rudolph Witsch és a Batthyány-erdő: A Városliget közparkká alakítására tett egyik első komoly kísérlet” (Rudolph Witsch and the Batthyány Wood: One of the First Serious Attempts to Create a Public Park in the Városliget), Urbs: Magyar Várostörténeti Évkönyv vol. 13 (2019): 35–55.

  50. 50.

    Witsch also offered alternative routes and places to visit in the neighboring area, probably intended for those more interested in industrial sites.

  51. 51.

    It was also mentioned by Georg Werner. See Werner, De admirandis Hungariae aquis hypomnemation, 6v–7r. A bibliography of Werner with an analysis of his work was first published in L. Erdősi, “Wernher: De admirandis Hungariae aquis,” Communicationes Ex Bibliotheca Historiae Medicae Hungarica vol. 29 (1963): 103–68.

  52. 52.

    Crantz, Gesundbrunnen der Oesterreichische Monarchie, 140–42 referring to P. Adámi, Hydrographia Comitatus Trencsinensis (Vienna:Schulz, 1766).

  53. 53.

    A. Weissenbach(?), “Briefe aus den Bädern zu Töplitz im Trentschiner Comitate in Hungarn,” Patriotisches Tageblatt vol. 6 (1803): 422. The author of this account was a certain Aloys Carl, identified in 1826 as Aloys Weissenbach, most likely referring to the poet and professor of medicine in Salzburg, Aloys Weissenbach (1766–1821). His authorship, however, has not been authenticated. See A. Carl, Die Schwefelquellen zu Töplitz nächst Trentschin im Königreiche Ungarn (Preßburg: Belnay, 1826), 22.

  54. 54.

    Weissenbach(?), “Briefe aus den Bädern,” 465–66.

  55. 55.

    Rudolph Witsch, Reise in das Bad nach Töplitz, oder: Fragmentarische Schilderung des Töplitzer Bades, 1806, Hungarian National Library, Manuscript Collection, Fol. Germ. 27.

  56. 56.

    R. Witsch, “Bemerkungen auf einer Reise von Preßburg in das Teplitzer Bad bei Tretschin im August 1817,” Hesperus vol. 26 (1820): 17–22, 44–47. The account is predominantly about the practicalities and the sights on the journey to the spa. There is only a short description on the place itself at the very end of the text.

  57. 57.

    Carl, Die Schwefelquellen, Plan no. 1.

  58. 58.

    Rudolph Witsch, Reise in das Bad nach Töplitz, oder: Fragmentarische Schilderung des Töplitzer Bades, 1806, Hungarian National Library, Manuscript Collection, Fol. Germ. 27.

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  1. Manchester School of Architecture, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK

    Kristof Fatsar

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    Mohammad Gharipour

  2. Dumbarton Oaks, Harvard University, Washington, DC, USA

    Anatole Tchikine

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Fatsar, K. (2023). Cure, Leisure, and Exercise: The Emerging Spa Landscapes in Eighteenth- and Early Nineteenth-Century Hungary. In: Gharipour, M., Tchikine, A. (eds) Salutogenic Urbanism. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-7851-7_8

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