Spa's - The History
Think of spas and it brings to mind a modern day surrounding of a health spa or one of the UK’s spa hotels which usually offer state of the art gyms, saunas and steam rooms to detox in, Jacuzzi’s to relax and distress in and swimming pools to float around in (or to do a few lengths for the more energetic!).
However, spas have been used as a source of well being for thousands of years.
Some of the earliest records suggest that it was the Greeks who began bathing regimes that formed the foundation for modern day spas and spa procedures. Public baths and showers were established within their gymnasiums for relaxation and personal hygiene. Certain natural springs or tidal pools were blessed by the gods to cure disease according to Greek Mythology. An early Greek balneum (bathhouse) at Serangeum was cut into the hillside to make use of the hot springs located there. They cut out bathing chambers and a series of niches were cut into the rock above the chambers to hold the bathers clothing.
In 25 BC Emporer Agrippa designed and created the first of the large scale spas – a thermae spa. As only the Romans would do, each subsequent Emporer outdid his predecessor by creating ever-more extravagant thermae spas. From England to Africa, across the Roman Empire these early spas gradually evolved into entertainment centres offering sports, restaurants, and various types of baths offering facilities not dissimilar to the spas of today!
Spas of more recent times
In more recent times most upper class Europeans considered bathing the whole body to be a lower class activity. They washed their clothes with water often and washed only their faces. But, the upper class slowly began to change their attitudes towards bathing as a way to restore health later in the century. In 1702 Queen Anne of England travelled to Bath, the former Roman development, to bathe. From here on in Bath was transformed from a country spa into the social capital of England. Bath set the tone for other spas in Europe to follow. The spas became stages on which Europeans paraded with great pageantry.
In the 19th Century, as physicians realized some of the benefits that cleanliness could provide, bathing became a more common and accepted practice.
The architectural development of European spas took place in the 18th & 19th centuries. There was more emphasis on drinking the waters rather than bathing in them and this led to the development of Trinkhallen (drinking halls).
By the mid 19th century the situation had changed again and visitors to European spas began to bathe in addition to drinking the waters. Besides fountains, pavilions and Trinkhallen, bathhouses on the scale of the Roman Baths were revived.
At the beginning of the 20th century European spas combined strict diet and exercise regime with a complex bathing procedure to achieve benefits for the patients. Spa provided various other diversions including horse racing, gambling, fishing, dancing and skating to name a few. Sightseeing and theatrical performances served as further incentives for people to go to a spa. In some cases European governments would pay a portion of the patients expenses as they realised the medical benefits of spa therapy. Obesity and overindulgence problems were catered for at a number of spas.
