Bath of the peoples of the world, what a huge variety of traditions and customs among different peoples and countries. Among the peoples of Africa, water has always been considered sacred; they widely used hydrotherapy in their mystical rites and rituals. In countries that had sand, they dug a hole in it the size of a person, and in this hole they made a fire from branches and twigs. Then they removed the remains of the fire from the pit and poured dry heated sand into it, placed various useful herbs and leaves, depending on what diseases the person was complaining of. Sometimes the fire was not lit, but boiling water was poured over the pit.
A person lay down in a hole (or lay down), covered it with various medicinal herbs, and sand hot from the sun was raked on top of the body.
The time a person spent in such a bath was determined by his well-being.
Snow bathhouse...
In the glorious city of Baikalsk, Andrey Pylyukh and Vladimir Zolotchenko built an ice bathhouse. Baikalsk is a small city in the south of Lake Baikal, not far from Irkutsk.
All walls are lined with ice. Up to 15 people can be accommodated inside. The thickness of the walls of the bathhouse is only 2 cm, if you do not take into account the ice. The technology, according to the author, is unique; oligarchs sometimes order such bathhouses for their dachas.
Not far from the bathhouse there is a font. Everything, of course, is made of ice.
The cost of a 2-hour bathhouse rental is 5,000 rubles
The bathhouse accommodates 15 people.
Floating sauna in the middle of the Vltava River in Prague...
Many large cities have a river that divides them into parts, creating both an incredible atmosphere and a huge number of problems in terms of transport and infrastructure. The Czech capital Prague also has a river! And architects Andrea Kubna and Ondrej Lipensky propose a way to use these expanses of water to their advantage; they propose to create a floating sauna on the Vltava.
In the very center of Prague, there may also be a floating bathhouse Floating bath on Vltava river.
This structure will have a diameter of 50 meters. Inside it there will be a reservoir open to the sky with a depth of 165 centimeters. It will be separated from the Vlatava River itself by a special textile membrane that filters debris, dirt, algae and bacteria. This pool can accommodate up to 300 people at a time. And around it there will be cabins for vacationers (24 cabins in total).
People will come here on public and private boats. Here they can take a steam bath, swim in the pool, eat in a restaurant, or just sit and relax on sun loungers or in the lounge. A closed circular structure will protect the internal space of Floating bath on Vltava river from the noise, dust and bustle of Prague, the center of which is very close.
In the winter, it will be possible to create an ice skating rink inside the Floating bath on Vltava river complex - after all, in winter there are severe frosts in Prague, and the Vltava River completely freezes.
Transcarpathian bathhouse. Steaming in a vat.
The first hydropathic clinic in Transcarpathia (Lumshory village) was built back in the 17th century (about 1600). Mineral water in the village flows directly from the rock, which was used by local princes and merchants to treat their battered bodies.
Cold mineral water was poured into large wooden troughs, and then, with the help of hot stones, the temperature was brought to the desired level. Then two large cast iron vats were cast, one of which is now in the Vienna Museum, and the second is in the possession of a local resident.
The organization of the process is very simple. Mineral water is poured into a cast iron vat. A fire is lit under it. Flat river stones are placed at the bottom of the vat so that the hot bottom does not burn. And the temperature slowly rises to 45-50 degrees. The vat is quite spacious (diameter 2.5 m, depth 0.8 m, wall thickness from 40 to 60 mm). The four of us can feel quite comfortable. A small mountain river with ice-cold water flows two steps away. There are small dams in it so that you can plunge your head into it. The procedure takes no more than one hour. It is very effective in winter, when there is snow all around and the banks of the river are covered in ice. And you lie in hot mineral water, drink tea infused with mountain herbs with honey.
You can add decoctions and infusions of herbs to the water. You can put a couple of armfuls of fragrant herbs in the water. And the procedure is not as tough as when steaming in traditional steam rooms. Warming up of body tissues occurs at a deeper level and more evenly, sparingly. The heat capacity of water is much greater than that of air and does not require high temperatures.
In the vat you relax more, you get pleasure from contemplating the world around you from the vat. If it overheats, there is a body of cold water nearby. As a rule, two or three visits to the vat followed by immersion in water occur in one hour. And this happens so naturally, without violence to the body, that you already begin to think about betraying the traditional bathhouse with a broom.
A water bath cannot be compared with other types of baths. After it there is an incomparable sensation, a slight tingling sensation, like needles, evenly throughout the body.
After several trips (into the vat and then into the river), you get the feeling that your muscles and bones have been replaced with new, younger ones. The body breathes health, and the nervous system plunges into a state of complete calm and contemplation. It is clear that hot mineral water treats problems of the musculoskeletal system, and contrasting cold water from a living river triggers hidden rejuvenation mechanisms.
When building such a bathhouse, you will need to build a font with a water cooling system.
Heading: |Architects from the Canadian firm Partisans implemented an original design for a sauna made entirely of wood. In addition to being entirely wooden, the project is integrated into the rock and is located in a picturesque region rich in artesian springs. The project is called The Grotto.
Located in an active volcanic zone, the Japanese archipelago has a huge number of geothermal water outlets. Practical Japanese use them to heat houses, greenhouses, supply water to public baths, and also to create tourist centers. Staying in a hotel built on a hot spring is quite expensive. But this does not deter visitors. Rooms in such hotels for weekends must be booked a couple of weeks in advance.
Hotels often set up whole cascades of “rotenburo” - open-air baths, where the views of bathers are not limited by walls and fences, but, on the contrary, they have magnificent views of mountains, valleys, and copses. The Japanese, like the Russians, love to warm bones. And here the young mountains of the Japanese archipelago serve well, supplying hot mineralized geothermal water. A hotel located at a spring will certainly have a list of elements contained in the water.
Somewhere in this hotel there is sure to be a pool into which healing water constantly flows, often smelling of sulfur or something else equally pungent. The Japanese believe that the range of these underground aromas turns an ordinary bath into a truly health-improving event. It is believed that water from mountain springs is especially useful for the overall strengthening of the body. There are no brooms, however. How do you bathe in a hot spring? In general, exactly the same as in a regular bath or bath. Upon entering the dressing room, you take off your clothes and put them in a plastic basket. In return you receive a small towel. Then you go to the “bathhouse” itself. Shower devices are built into the wall, under which, sitting on a bench, you wash off the first dirt, using a towel as a washcloth. Then it's the pool's turn.
The water there is usually much hotter than what we are used to. But the Japanese tolerate it completely calmly. The Russian man climbs into it centimeter by centimeter, cursing and moaning, until he finally settles to the bottom. During all these procedures, you use a small towel for its other function - like a fig leaf. Given the general calm attitude towards everything bodily, for some reason it is considered decent to carelessly cover the painful area while bathing in these very hot springs. True, the owners of some hotels located at the springs began to prohibit this practice, since hot mineral water corrodes these towels and the quality of the water becomes worse. After soaking in hot water, you return to the shower and wash yourself completely. “Rotenburo” are located in secluded corners of parks and gardens, on mountain slopes, where there are usually no passers-by.
The craving for nature, for the natural, is wonderful, but in Japan they know how to take this feeling to the absolute level, offering the client very exotic, from a European point of view, onsen entertainment. For example, in winter in Hokkaido, those who wish can take a hot mineral bath directly in the ice. Wooden tubs are frozen into the icy surface of a frozen lake and hot water from a natural spring is supplied to them through bamboo pipes. The client, looking around the snow-covered surface of the lake, can sip warm sake rice wine while basking in warm mineral water.
But in Wakayama Prefecture, the owners of the Arita Kanko hotel came up with hot baths in a suspended cable car. A large iron container, divided into several baths, moves along ropes thrown over a gorge on the seashore from the top of one mountain to another. They are filled with hot water from the onsen. Clients each climb into their own bathtub, and an aerial flight over the abyss begins. Unforgettable impressions are left not only by the unusual combination of a hot bath and goosebumps that involuntarily run through the body when looking down. A body that has lost its weight in water seems to float in the sky.
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This unique health establishment has so far only one specific location - the city of Tbilisi. The capital of Georgia was named so because it was located near warm sulfur springs flowing from under Mount Tabor.
The average temperature of the source is 37 degrees. You might think, what kind of bathhouse is this? However, Georgian architects designed special rooms located below ground level. Only the unique domed roofs are visible on the surface. In the center of the hall there are pools lined with marble or local porous stone, into which hot water from a sulfur spring flows through clay pipes. This device is somewhat reminiscent of Japanese sento.
Griboyedov and Pushkin visited these baths, who immensely praised the health spa treatments and the skill of the bathhouse attendants.
The benefits of sulfur baths
Water enriched with sulfur has different effects on people suffering from various diseases. Its main advantage is that it dilates blood vessels gently, without sudden jumps. Regular use of sulfur-alkaline waters normalizes many processes in the human body. Thus, hypertensive patients moderately and calmly lower their blood pressure, while hypotensive patients, on the contrary, raise it to normal. Sulfur waters are recommended for patients suffering from various joint diseases. Increased blood flow helps accelerate metabolism in these places and, as a result, tissue restoration, pain relief and increased motor activity. Sulfuric water sources also have an anti-inflammatory effect: they heal wounds, relieve skin inflammation and accelerate skin regeneration.
A sulfur bath is not only water filled with a sulfur component. This is moderately hot water, which, in combination with sulfur, has a relaxing and at the same time mild tonic effect.
Heading: |The bathhouse, with its steam and brooms, cozy atmosphere, is not so much an object of hygiene as a favorite place to relax. And if so, you want her to be the best. But let’s be honest, we all love to have “cheap” added to “convenient” and “beautiful.” And since our people are not short on ingenuity, the solutions can be very curious, although often practical. We have collected a selection of photos, some of which may give you ideas...
Many people are often confused by the window in the steam room. Well, how to make it so that it doesn’t blow under any circumstances, but opens easily. And here is the solution - the door from the washing machine. Why not a sealed window? No drafts or problems with opening.
More on the issue of beauty. How do you store your firewood? Yes. Me too. And there are several very simple, but very unusual solutions that decorate the site. Moreover, they do not require any extra effort to implement.
You should be given a medal for building such a woodpile. Only now, it will be a pity to take it apart... We'll have to go back to the forest.
And this is a work of art. It would be a shame to destroy Recently, Japanese mini-baths with heated ofuro or furako have become increasingly popular. This is our response to the Japanese who stole our wooden barrel. Everything is very simple and you don’t need to build anything.
The main thing is not to overheat... 
If there was a hunt, you could take a steam bath... We already wrote, but there are also bathhouses in trailers.
This version of a mobile sauna does not need to be assembled. You can even steam on the road... if you want But this is not all mobile baths. For those who like to ride bicycles, there is a sauna on bicycle wheels. Hook up the bike and off you go. This is a miracle on wheels.
For lovers of cycling - a sauna on bicycle wheels There are even stranger baths. One of the ski resorts has a steam room in the ski lift. Are you frozen while skiing down the mountain? Climb in and take a steam bath.
Bathhouse at a ski resort...in a ski lift You can move not only on roads (or off-road). If there is a lake or river nearby, you can install a floating sauna. And no problems with and. He went out and into the water.
Water bath - and no problems with the pool 
Floating steam room - straight into the water Who told you that they should only be in the oven? If there are several large stones, all that remains is to finish the walls between them. You will get a fireproof bathhouse. Like in this photo.
And yet we associate a bathhouse with a tree. And this is correct: thanks to the fact that wood “breathes”, we can breathe in the steam room without any problems. But the construction of a log house is not an easy undertaking and is very expensive. Not everyone knows how to work well with an ax or pay the cost of building a log house by specialists. Here is a solution: a bathhouse made of logs. They are smeared with clay mixed with straw. The result is warm, reliable, beautiful walls that also breathe well and retain heat just as well. These are the bathhouses from the “cheap and cheerful” category.
A variety of baths, infrared cabin, hammam, Roman bath, Moroccan bath, craxen or hay bath, Korean mineral bath, as well as intensive Russian and Finnish baths.
The benefits of a bath for human health, mental and physical well-being have been known for a very long time.“Banny effect ”occurs during regular trips to the bathhouse.Blood vessels are trained and health improves.The variety of baths of the peoples of the world guarantees everyone the opportunity to select the most comfortable steam for themselves. Baths, according to their properties, are “soft” and “intense”. We choose the most optimal option for ourselves.
The softest infrared bath. Its radiation can heat the human body absolutely safely. Heating begins at room temperature and puts minimal strain on the heart. Session duration is 15-30 minutes. Natural humidity, air temperature 45-60°C
Hamam - Turkish bath. Temperature 45-55°C, humidity 65-85%. The body is heated on a marble table, where various procedures such as peelings and massages are performed.
Roman bath. The temperature is approximately 45°C, humidity 100% is achieved by the operation of the steam generator. This comfortable sauna is ideal for women; the surface layers of the skin are perfectly moisturized with steam.
Moroccan bath. Temperature about 45°C , air humidity is natural. All procedures take place as in a Turkish bath on a warm marble table (peelings, massages with aroma oils)
Craxens or hay bath. The miraculous effect of such a steam bath, which passes through the hay, absorbs its aromas, envelops the body, and the steam is supplied locally to the lumbar region.
Korean or mineral aroma bath.There are mats on the warm floor. The mineral jadeite has a beneficial effect. Jadeite is used in oriental medicinerecoverydisturbed human bioenergy.
“ Intense “ baths
Russian bath. Temperature 70-90° C, humidity is about 80%. It is hot here and there is enough steam. This balance of temperature and humidity allows you to achieve light and soft steam.
Finnish sauna. Temperature 100-120° C, humidity about 30-50%. Low humidity allows you to raise the temperature to 120° C As a result, the heat coverage in such a sauna is greater.
Japanese bath – ofuro. Immersion in water with a temperature of 40-42° C heats up the body. Then alternate contrasting effects of hot (45-46°C) and cold (8 ° C) water. In terms of load on the body and cardiovascular system, this is the most intense bath.
Ofuro- a bathhouse for lovers of contrasting sensations, which, according to the Japanese, has a rejuvenating effect.
Sauna for walruses, thermal baths in Baden-Baden, Budapest thermal baths, Rzhev steam room and other baths around the world that are worth warming up in. At different stages of its history and in the most different places of its habitat, humanity has discovered approximately the same ways of leisurely, but very effective rejuvenation, healing, and at the same time simply relaxing. The main components of this recipe are steam and hot water. Seasonings are very different: birch and other brooms, massage, scrub, whipped soap foam and other additions that vary from region to region. For those who feel like a new person every time after a steam room, Forbes magazine has compiled a list of the most remarkable baths on the planet.
Bani Gellert (Budapest, Hungary)
Where: H-1118 Budapest, Kelenhegyi út 4 There are 118 thermal springs in Budapest. The ancient Romans took steam in them, and in the 16th century, together with the Turks, the first hammams appeared here. But the glory of the European capital of steam was brought to the city by the majestic bath complexes built at the beginning of the 20th century. And the most famous of them is Gellert, a masterpiece of Budapest Art Nouveau, which opened in 1918 at the foot of the hill of the same name on the banks of the Danube. A doorman at the entrance, marble columns, tall arched vaults, stained glass windows in the lobby, mosaics in the baths and steam rooms - all the signs of great style are evident here: it is not without reason that they say about Gellert that when you swim in its pool, it seems like you are taking a bath in a cathedral. On the lower level there is a hammam with eucalyptus steam, a sauna with an antique clock and three baths - with cold, warm and hot water. Here, for a fee, you can order massages, mud baths and other therapeutic procedures. On the floor above is the same “cathedral” pool with a retractable roof, the appearance of which is reminiscent of Roman baths: a two-tier colonnade with a gallery at the top encircles its perimeter. In the 1930s, during the reign of Admiral Horthy, the best balls in the city were thrown here: the pool was covered with a glass floor, and an orchestra was located in the gallery. Now there are only palm trees in tubs and a cafe where you can drink a cup of coffee with Unicum balsam or just a glass of Tokaji. Or you can go out into the courtyard, where there is another swimming pool - with an artificial wave, stone cascading terraces and a pavilion decorated with majolica, worthy of the best palace parks in Europe. Cost of visit: from 3600 (weekdays) to 3900 (weekends) forints (€13-15) More details: www.gellertbath.com Rauhaniemi (Tampere, Finland)
Where: Rauhaniementie 24 The oldest sauna in Finland is located in Tampere - built in 1906 by Rajaportin. But the younger Rahaniemi sauna (it appeared in 1929) is much more popular - and not only among the locals: this place is called the best sauna for walruses in Finland. Rauhaniemi stands on the shore of the large beautiful lake Näsijärvi, and in winter heated paths lead from the sauna to its shore, ending in a spacious ice hole into which a staircase with railings descends. In the polynya (water temperature from two to four degrees) pot-bellied Finns and portly Finns, as well as rare and timid foreigners of various sizes, snort and grunt. Then, all together, they sedately head out to warm up, and for these purposes, there are actually two saunas in Rauhaniemi (the largest - which is also the hottest - can accommodate 70 people). Having thoroughly steamed, the red-bodied people slowly return to the hole - and so on three or four times. Before leaving the sauna, it is considered good form to ask: “Heitankyo löulüya?” - Shouldn't we add a couple, that is? And if everyone says “Heyta vaan” or simply “Kyullya”, then you need to splash some water on the hot stones. By the way, in summer the quality of steam is no worse, you can even sunbathe on the beach, and next to the stairs leading to the former wormwood, you will see a two-meter diving tower. Cost of visit: €4.5 More details: www.rauhaniemi.net Daikoku-Yu (Tokyo, Japan)
Where: 32-6 Senju Kotobuki-cho, Adachi-ku In traditional Japanese public baths, sento instead of steam rooms are hot water baths where you sit, sweat and relax. And the Tokyo bathhouse Daikoku-Yu, which has been operating since 1927, is called the king of sento. In the nineties, it underwent a large-scale reconstruction, which affected mostly the internal structure: from the outside, the bathhouse still looks exactly the same as it did eighty years ago, and is more reminiscent of a Buddhist temple. Daikoku-Yu is open from three in the afternoon until midnight, and inside there is sterile cleanliness and a snail's calm and leisurely pace. Behind the locker room with small lockers for clothes, scales and massage chairs is a room with a full-wall view of Fuji, water taps and three baths, including massage ones. In the hot ones the water temperature is 42 degrees, but there is also a cold one, 15 degrees. In the courtyard, under the roof, there is a roten buro - this is the name for an open-air bath. It has the same 42 degrees, and around there is a small garden with a traditional stone lamp: contemplation also helps you relax and forget about the vain. Usually people with tattoos are not allowed into the sento, but in Daikoku-Yu it is quite possible to sit in the bath next to a yakuza covered in designs from head to toe. In the bathhouse, however, they are very good-natured. Cost of visit: ¥430 (approximately $5.4) Sauna Deco (Amsterdam, Holland)
Where: Herengracht 115, 1015 BE Surprisingly, an old Parisian department store played a major role in the fate of a small sauna in the center of Amsterdam. When in the 1970s the owners of the famous Le Bon Marche store decided to update the interior, decorated in the 1920s according to the sketches of the recognized master of Art Deco, architect Louis-Hippolyte Boileau, a huge number of decorative details were simply dismantled. The efficient Dutch acquired them, giving their bathhouse the appropriate name. The wooden staircase with a bronze cast balustrade, along which Parisian women hurried to do their shopping, now leads to the second floor of the sauna in the relaxation room, a glass elevator shaft separates the swimming pool from the rest of the premises, and the gilded stained glass windows in the lounge and swimming pool used to be lanterns on the roof of the department store. Now people of both sexes wander around these luxurious Parisian interiors completely naked and wrapped in towels: like most Dutch baths, Sauna Deco is mixed, and swimsuits are not allowed here. After visiting two saunas with different temperatures and a hammam with eucalyptus steam, you can go to the pool with hydromassage, relax in the tiny garden in the courtyard, and then head to the lounge to look at photographs of that same department store: it turns out to be a pyramidal glowing object on the floor, which is crowned with a vase of flowers , used to be a chandelier in the sales area. Another reason to visit Sauna Deco is the best massage therapists in Amsterdam, with whom you need to make an appointment in advance. In addition, the local beauty salon offers wraps and facial treatments with seaweed, which is specially brought from Brittany. Cost of visit: €21 More details: www.saunadeco.nl Gedyk Pasha (Istanbul, Türkiye)
Where: Hamam Cad. No. 65 - 67 Gedikpaşa, Beyazit The Gedik Pasha Hammam, which is located next to the Beyazit Mosque and the Grand Bazaar, is one of the oldest in Istanbul: it was built under Mehmed the Conqueror, in 1475. Most guidebooks write that only local residents go there, however, it may happen that the locals will be in the minority in the bathhouse, but there will be many tourists who have read the guidebooks. Tourists, as a rule, leave here not too satisfied and disappointed in their expectations: the bathhouse attendants are lazy, and the massage is weak. But in fact, this is one of the best hammams in the city, and tipping will greatly improve your experience. In the hall with a marble fountain they give out peshtemals - either towels or sheets, without which it is not customary to be in the hammam. In the center of the main hall, which is called hararet, there is a large marble elevation, gebektashi, that is, “belly stone.” This stone is hot, and the bathhouse attendants lay clients on it and perform a peeling massage using a hard mitten (it rids the skin of a layer of dead cells), and also wrap it in foam from head to toe and properly knead the body (in the women’s department, the bathhouse attendants still and sing long songs). In Hararet, by the way, it is not too hot, because here it is customary not to steam, but rather to languish, from time to time diving into the cool pool. However, the hammam also has a small sauna. Cost of visit: 50 Turkish lira, or approximately $30 (massage included in the price) More details: www.gedikpasahamami.com Sandunovskie Bani (Moscow, Russia)
Where: st. Neglinnaya, 14, pp. 3-7 The most famous Moscow baths were founded, oddly enough, by the actor: Sila Nikolaevich Sandunov served as a comedian at the Imperial Theater, but took his business project seriously. Having sold, as legend has it, a diamond necklace given by Catherine II to his wife for her wedding, he bought up plots on the banks of the Neglinka River, which had not yet been hidden in a pipe, and in 1808 opened stone baths. Subsequently, Sanduny changed owners many times, and by the end of the century it had become very dilapidated, so the next owners - millionaire Vera Firsanova and her husband, guards lieutenant Alexei Ganetsky - decided to build a new bathhouse in the same place. The complex of buildings, built according to the design of the architect Freudenberg, is a masterpiece of eclecticism: through the pompous neo-baroque arch of the main facade, a “Moorish” arch in the courtyard is visible, and in the interiors with marble columns, stucco molding and gilding, you can find everything from Gothic to Art Nouveau. The clientele of Sanduny, which reopened in 1896, was as diverse as the interiors: ordinary people washed for 5 and 10 kopecks, and serious merchants rested in a luxurious department for fifty dollars per person: with a hairdresser, fireplace and separate offices for 5 and 10 rubles. The system of “categories” has been preserved to this day: in modern Sanduny there are five departments - three men’s and two women’s, but all the main beauties are the “Gothic” hall with wooden carvings, the “Turkish” one with ceiling paintings and stucco moldings, and the swimming pool with the Ionic colonnade, where Eisenstein filmed episode of “Battleship Potemkin”, are open only to visitors of the highest male category. However, the famous Sandunovo steam, about which Chaliapin said that it “frees” the voice, is still available to everyone - as well as the services of bathhouse attendants who work here in dynasties. Cost of visit: 1500-1800 rubles More details: www.sanduny.ru Kotiharju (Helsinki, Finland)
Where: Harjutorinkatu 1, 00500 Just half a century ago there were about one hundred and twenty public saunas in Helsinki, but now there are only a few left (Finns now prefer to arrange private saunas in the basements of high-rise buildings or even in apartments). And there’s only one that runs on wood – Kotiharju, located in the working-class district of Kallio, which, in Finnish style, is slowly going through the process of gentrification. This sauna (a family enterprise, by the way, which belongs to the couple Risto and Merja Holopainen) was built in 1928, and in 1999 it was thoroughly reconstructed - with the help of the Helsinki Culture Capital Foundation: in commemoration of the fact that the year 2000 of Helsinki became the cultural capital of Europe. There are one and a half tons of stones in the heater there, and to heat up the sauna, you need a cubic meter of firewood and five to six hours of time. Whether to add a couple or not, according to tradition, is decided by those who sit on the top, hottest benches. Regulars from neighboring neighborhoods, students, creative intelligentsia - and, of course, tourists come here. To cool down, hot visitors, wrapped in towels, go straight out into the street - drink beer and sing songs in chorus in front of passers-by, who, if not sing along, then listen attentively. They also offer excellent massages. Cost of visit: €10, subscription for 10 visits - €90; birch broom - €5 More details: www.kotiharjunsauna.fi Dragon Hill Spa (Seoul, Korea)
Where: Yongsan Gu, Hangang-ro Dong 40-713 Korean couples do not tolerate fuss, and whole families come to the local baths - jimjilbans - not only to steam, but also to eat, take a nap and chat. At Dragon Hill Spa in Seoul, entrance tickets are sold immediately for 12 hours - this is a real Disney bathhouse, on seven floors of which, in addition to steam rooms and swimming pools, there are restaurants, cafes, a fitness club, a cinema and even a golf course. At the entrance, visitors are given a uniform (shorts and T-shirts), which will be needed when visiting mixed zones, and special electronic bracelets, which contain information about all purchases made - from drinks to massages. In separate men's and women's areas there are wet steam baths and a variety of baths: with sea water, with ginseng, with aromatic herbs, as well as mud, hydromassage and cold baths. After water procedures, it is worth going for the famous Korean peeling: with the help of a special viscose glove, a layer of dead skin cells is scraped off from visitors, and the skin becomes soft, like a baby’s. In the mixed area there is a huge relaxation room covered with tatami - if you wish, you can even stay here overnight (after all, many jimjilbangs operate around the clock and are a cheap alternative to hotels). Nearby are several rooms decorated like medieval palace halls: tourists love to take pictures in them. But the main feature of Dragon Hill Spa is the original dry steam rooms: one is heated with pine wood, the other is decorated with cypress, the third with jade, in the fourth the floor is covered with heated salt crystals, there is also a steam room with yellow clay and an ice room with a real snowman. Cost of visit: 10,000-12,000 won (about €8) More details: www.dragonhillspa.co.kr Orbeliani (Tbilisi, Georgia)
Where: Abanotubani, st. Joseph Grishashvili Tbilisi owes its appearance and its name to sulfur springs. According to legend, King Vakhtang Gorgasali shot a deer in the Kura Valley, but it fell to a hot spring, was healed and was like that - and Vakhtang ordered to found a city in that very place, named Tbilisi (from the word “tbili” - “warm”). Later, a whole area of sulfur baths appeared on the springs - Abanotubani, which still exists: the baths themselves are underground, but on the surface only their large domes with turrets on top are visible. The most famous institution is the Orbeliani bathhouse (named after the former owner), also known as the Blue or Motley, similar to a mosque - with a pointed facade, two small minarets and decorated with blue-blue tiles. It is believed (and this legend is diligently maintained) that Pushkin visited its third room during a trip to Arzrum, and on the wall of the bathhouse hangs a sign with his quote: “I have never seen anything more luxurious than the Tiflis baths.” The noseless bathhouse attendant Hassan then worked on Alexander Sergeevich: he broke his limbs, pulled out his joints and beat him hard with his fist, and the poet felt not pain, but amazing relief. Nowadays you won’t meet noseless mekise (that’s what bath attendants are called), but they still give an excellent massage on a marble trestle bed, then, like Pushkin, they rub with a kisa - a rough woolen mitten, removing the unnecessary layer of dead skin, and then lather with weightless foam - and wash it off already from a completely different, new person. Cost of visit: from 5 GEL (approximately €2) Thermal baths Friedrichsbad (Baden-Baden, Germany)
Where: Römerplatz 1, D-76530 The majestic building in the spirit of a Renaissance palazzo was built in Baden-Baden in 1869-1877 by the architect Karl Dernfeld - at the personal order of the Grand Duke of Baden Frederick I, who dreamed of reviving the culture of the ancient Roman baths that existed on this site 2000 years ago. The facade of Friedrichsbad is decorated with statues of Asclepius and Hygieia, and the interior partly follows the layout of the Roman baths, with a men's and women's wing of steam rooms and baths and a round pool in the central rotunda with a marble colonnade. There is a gallery with healing drinking waters, but the main thing, of course, is the baths themselves, in which, in full accordance with the ancient dress code, swimsuits are prohibited. On Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, women and men steam separately and meet only in the thermal pool; on other days, all Friedrichsbad premises are open to both sexes. The local baths are often called Roman-Irish: the exotic hybrid owes its birth to the Irish doctor Richard Barter, an active promoter of hydrotherapy, who supplemented the Roman dry steam with wet Turkish steam and insisted on the combination of steam rooms and baths of different temperatures in one chain. The bath ritual now existing in Friedrichsbad is based on his method and consists of 17 stages. It all starts with dry steam rooms (54 and 68 degrees), followed by a soapy massage, then wet steam rooms, which are no longer so hot, and finally, thermal hydromassage pools, each of which is a little colder than the previous one. After water treatments, guests enter the rest room: attendants carefully wrap them in sheets and blankets, lay them on beds and ask when to wake them up. When falling asleep, many remember the words of Mark Twain, who, having visited Friedrichsbad, said: “After ten minutes here you forget about time, and after twenty you forget about everything in the world.” Cost of visit: €21 (for 3 hours), with soapy massage - €31 (3.5 hours) More details: www.roemisch-irisches-bad.de Xiao Nan Guo Tang He Yuan (Shanghai, China)
Where: F2, Xiao Nan Guo Restaurant, No.3337, Hongmei Road Built in 2002, the five-story building next to the famous Shanghai restaurant Xiao Nan Guo is a stunning hybrid of a spa and entertainment complex with an area of 12,000 square meters: a thousand people can relax here at the same time. Guests are greeted by a lobby worthy of a five-star hotel: a marble reception desk, luxurious chandeliers and music played by a mechanical piano, the keys of which move on their own. Women guests are given blue Hawaiian muumuu dresses instead of bath sheets, men are given green short pajamas with shorts, and children, accordingly, are given mini versions of one or the other: whole families come here. The most helpful people from Japan, Hong Kong and Thailand work here, who provide dozens of massages, rejuvenating body scrubs (every square centimeter of skin is treated with hard mittens - except, of course, the most delicate places) and all kinds of facial masks, as well as fifty other spas. procedures. Among the actual bath options, there are, for example, a variety of baths (including milk and Japanese ofuro), steam and low-temperature saunas (in the women's section - with a large TV showing local soap operas), as well as swimming pools. And after the procedures - or even during a break between them - you can play mahjong or ping-pong, sing karaoke or have a snack: there are several cafes with good dim sum, noodles - and more refined offerings. Cost of visit: 58 yuan, massages - from 48 yuan (about $7.5-9) More details: www.xnggroup.com Liquidrom (Berlin, Germany)
Where: Möckernstrasse 10, 10963 Opened in 2005 in the German capital, the Liquidrom is a real bathhouse of the 21st century and, perhaps, the only place on earth where you can listen to a DJ set while soaking in the pool after a steam room. Minimalist interiors are dominated by natural gray-green stone and concrete; the only exceptions are the steam rooms decorated with wood, of which there are four: a wet sauna, a Finnish sauna, a salt cave and a panoramic sauna with a glass wall, trimmed with dead Karelian pine. Once an hour in the Finnish sauna they do one of the signature treatments for free: light salt, honey or aromatic massage. For those who want a serious massage - such as Balinese herbal bags or Thai hot stones - there is a spa nearby. After the steam room and treatments, guests go to the outdoor terrace, decorated with wood, to take a nap on the sun loungers or lie in a small warm bath, also lined with wood in the Japanese style. But the main attraction of Liquidrome is located inside, under a concrete dome - it is a large round pool with sea water. There is always twilight, colored lighting and music, and the speakers are installed underwater, so when you dive, it seems as if you are wearing headphones with loud music playing. DJs perform here in the evenings, and on Fridays candles are placed around the perimeter of the pool and live concerts are held in a variety of genres - from string classical to jazz and electronics. Cost of visit: 2 hours - €19.5; 4 hours - €24.5 More details: www.liquidrom-berlin.de Rzhev Baths (Moscow, Russia)
Where: Banny Prospekt, 3, building 1 Rzhev baths have been operating uninterruptedly in the capital for more than 120 years - in 1888 they were opened in Korzunovsky Lane (now Banny Proezd) by merchant of the second guild Ivan Malyshev. Later, from Malyshevsky they turned into Krestovsky, and the current name was assigned to the bathhouse during the war - military units going to the front from the nearby Rzhevsky (now Rizhsky) station washed themselves there. The morals here have always been democratic - the main contingent, even before the revolution, consisted of people of ordinary rank, small merchants and students. The interiors, accordingly, are not outstanding, although recently there was a major renovation, after which VIP rooms and a sauna appeared. But that’s not why people go to the Rzhev Baths - lovers and connoisseurs of a real Russian bath come to Banny Proezd from all over the city for the traditional steam room - here it’s a real ritual. Steam is prepared every half hour: they pour water into the stove-heater in gangs, sprinkle the walls of the steam room with infusions of chamomile and wormwood, and only then let people inside. According to the old Moscow tradition, they lie in the steam room right on the floor (the steam is so hot that many enter on all fours), the steamer (there are several of them here, each has its own day and its own audience, which comes exactly on this day) stands in the center, asks for silence and begins to perform sacred rituals: “scooping up” the steam from above with a broom or towel, he “douses” it in turn on all the people lying on the floor. After plunging into a cold bath in the soap compartment after such steam, you feel absolute bliss - in the most precise meaning of the word. Cost of visit: 800 rubles (on weekends - 850 rubles) More details: //rzhevskie-bani.ru Onsen Funaoka (Kyoto, Japan)
Where: 82-1 Murasakino Minamifunaoka-cho, Kita-ku Onsen means hot spring in Japanese; the same word is also used for baths using warm mineral water. Funaoka is a historical bathhouse: it opened in Kyoto back in 1923, and the original interiors are still perfectly preserved. True, unlike Sandun or Istanbul hammams, the bath area here, as in most traditional Japanese sento baths, is decorated modestly, but the changing room is a real museum. The walls here are decorated with painted tiles and carved bas-reliefs made of Japanese cedar, representing battle scenes from the Taisho period (1912-1926), and the wood-panelled ceiling is decorated with a colored high relief depicting the Tengu: this mythological monster with wings and a huge nose not only scares travelers in the mountains with thunderous laughter , but also loves cleanliness. From here you can cross a wooden bridge to the bath area, where the usual taps, basins and showers are located, as well as several ofuro - baths with hot water (45-50 degrees), where it is customary to soak, having first washed thoroughly. In Funaoka, in addition to ofuro with mineral water and medicinal Chinese herbs, there is also an “electric bath” denkiburo: a weak electric current passes between two metal electrode plates mounted in its walls - the Japanese believe that this procedure strengthens muscles and stimulates blood circulation. Nearby there is also a sauna with a TV, and next to it there is a cold bath with a faucet in the shape of a lion's mouth. But the most meditative ofuro is in the courtyard, where you can take a hot bath overlooking a koi pond and rock garden. Cost of visit: ¥410 (approximately $5.2) More details: Russian bathhouse - in our modern times, it is not only a traditional washing room, steam room and a terribly cramped dressing room.
Increasingly, the eyes of homeowners are drawn to the designs of unusual bathhouses: with a veranda, fireplace, swimming pool, barbecue oven, relaxation rooms, extensive terrace... and this is not the limit of the architects’ imagination!
Original bathhouses or triple pleasure
In this article, we invite you to get acquainted with non-standard baths that go beyond the boring boundaries of everyday life, in which relaxing is not just pleasant and interesting, but unforgettable! After all, here you have a unique opportunity to receive three types of pleasure at once: physical, mental and aesthetic.
So, let's see what solutions have recently become popular among our compatriots when building baths:
- Bath complex with swimming pool. We would like to immediately dispel the myth that the implementation of such a project is mega expensive - professional builders and home craftsmen have long confirmed the opposite. The price for construction is affordable to almost everyone, especially if the artificial reservoir is not heated and not covered. But projects of two-story buildings with an indoor pool are more expensive. Yes, and there is room here to expand architecturally.
- Billiards and sauna are another excellent combination that will surely interest many representatives of the stronger sex! By and large, such projects provide for the presence of at least one recreation room - billiard equipment is located in it. The area of this room can vary from a minimum of 20 m² to 40 m² or more.
Quite often, a billiard room is built on the second, that is, attic floor. In this case, the free space is organized in the most ergonomic way: on the ground floor there is a washing room, a steam room and a relaxation room, on the second there is a billiard room.
- Buildings with an attic. Of course, this is far from an innovation, but every year enterprising architects come up with more and more interesting bathhouse designs with an additional attic floor. In addition, this is a unique opportunity to never get extra square meters without expanding the total area of the building. What can be done from the second floor? Equip the same billiard room, recreation room, gym or even an office with your own hands!
- Unusual bathhouse with veranda or terrace. Agree, it is the absence or presence of open/closed extensions that forms the overall aesthetic perception of the building, its colorful, unique appearance.
For example, either along the entire facade or even a bay window - these are not just additional useful squares, but also a decoration of the bathhouse, its distinctive feature, its business card!
Advice!
Even if for some reason you prefer a standard bathhouse design to an individual one, then it can be made original by wisely choosing the location, shape and type of extension.
Try equipping a traditional corner log house with a veranda, and you will be surprised how much more unusual your bathhouse will become.
- Barrel sauna. According to ancient legend, a certain sage named Diogenes lived in a barrel. Much water has passed under the bridge since then, but this legend is alive to this day, only in its embodied form. Unfortunately, it is not known from history who first “gave birth” to the idea that you can take a great steam bath in an oak barrel... but one step or two, and today we can admire the most interesting bathhouses in the form of barrels!
Baths of this type appeared in the middle of the 20th century in snowy Finland and instantly won the hearts of the European people. Not surprising, because in addition to its colorful appearance, a barrel sauna, compared to a typical square building, warms up quickly and retains heat longer.
For your information!
Today there are also models of barrel baths that are placed on a mobile chassis in the form of a trailer.
This solution allows you to take it with you if, for example, you want to get out into nature and have a good soak there.
Top 5 most extraordinary baths in the world
What kind of wonders can you find on the globe!
Now, having looked at the most unusual bathhouse designs, avid steamers will be eager to try on their own bodies the results of procedures in such steamhouses:
- “Saunaforall” or simply “Sauna for everyone”! This phenomenon is located in the Czech town of Liberec. Those who built it did not have to build a solid foundation, as they came up with a more original solution. The sauna for everyone is located right in the middle of the river, on stilts, not far from the city beach.
Those who want to visit this bathhouse do not need to pay money, as it is completely free. Instructions for use: simply place an order with the architectural studio MjolkArchitects, who built it from wooden frames, plywood, spruce planks and aluminum.
- And in Milan there is an interesting bathhouse in a tram trailer. A company of 10 people can easily fit in it. A plasma screen is also installed here, on the screen of which they show the interesting history of Milanese trams.
- Turku Archipelago, Lake Larsmo – a fabulous steam bath. In this stunning place you can not only take a steam bath at any time of the year, but also admire the beauty of the picturesque natural region from the sauna floating on the lake.
For your information!
As an additional bonus, so to speak, you will certainly be offered to cool off in the purest snow at the top of the mountain.
- Well, who would have imagined that there could be a real bathhouse on the territory of the ice arena?! The dream of almost every man is to relax in a steam room and enjoy the game of his favorite hockey team!
Conclusion
The Russian bath is a pleasure in itself, primarily for the body. Well, when she is also beautiful, colorful, not like everyone else, then boundless spiritual pleasure is added to the physical! So don't be afraid to experiment. And as a “snack”, especially for lovers of bath art, there is an interesting thematic video in this article.