Hévíz Spa
Encyclopedia
Destination spa
A destination spa is a short term residential/lodging facility with the primary purpose of providing individual services for spa-goers to develop healthy habits. Historically many such spas were developed at the location of natural hot springs or sources of mineral waters...
in Hungary. It is located in Hévíz
Hévíz
Hévíz is a town in Zala county, Hungary.- External links :* * * *...
, on the shores of the lake of the same name
Lake Hévíz
Lake Hévíz is located close to Hévíz, Hungary, near the western end of Lake Balaton, five miles from Keszthely.It is the second largest thermal lake in the world...
.
The story of Hévíz Spa
The complex balneological treatment used in HévízHévíz
Hévíz is a town in Zala county, Hungary.- External links :* * * *...
has been developed through the centuries as a unique kind of medical care. It is based on three principles:
- natural curative effect of the lake
- presence of professional medical care
- medical diagnosis
The curative effect of the lake was probably known to the ancient Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
s. Coins found in the lake in the early 1980s also support this supposition. Discoveries from the age of Migration suggest that the migrant German and Slavic population used the lake as well. Written sources more than 400 years old originate from the age of the Turkish invasion.
First part
The Festetics family realised the curative effect of the lake and started its development as a spa. The lake and its surroundings became the family's property in the middle of the 18th century. Earl György (I.) Festetics (between 1795 and 1797) built a thermal wooden bathing house on a float over the outflow as a start. The first doctors mainly carried out venesections. After the earl's death in 1819 the development of Hévíz stopped. 1 March 1868, György (II.) Festetics got hold of the building sites west of the lake. The building project of the bathing resort (suitable for accommodation of guests) began. The bath looked more or less as it does today. In 1866 the mirrorbath was built.Second part
In 1905 Vencel Reischl, a brewery owner from KeszthelyKeszthely
Keszthely is a Hungarian city of 21,100 inhabitants located on the western shore of Lake Balaton. It's the second largest city by the lake after Siófok....
, became the tenant of the bath and remained so for 35 years. After 1905 Hévíz as a bath had an overnight success and became famous all over the country. Reischl built comfortable, modern hotels, restaurants, buildings instead of the battered fashioned ones. The unique entrance of the bath was finished in 1911 together with the Zander Institution. The unchecked boggy bush disappeared just to allow the newly planted park to appear. The number of visitors increased exponentially.
The new tenant recognised the financial potential of the curative effect of the lake, which can only be exploited if he cooperates with a specialist in his kind of treatments. The first doctor to sign a contract to come here was Dr. Vilmos Schulhof in 1906. In 1911 Dr. Vilmos Schulhof founded the Zander and Röntgen
Röntgen
The roentgen is a unit of measurement for exposure to ionizing radiation , and is named after the German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen...
Institution to meet the need for modern physiotherapy. They used gymnastics
Gymnastics
Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
, powertherapy for treatment and X-ray
X-ray
X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...
apparatus for diagnosis
Medical diagnosis
Medical diagnosis refers both to the process of attempting to determine or identify a possible disease or disorder , and to the opinion reached by this process...
. Dr. Ödön Schulhof (Vilmos's brother) was invited to Hévíz from Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
; here he worked as a specialist in X-ray diagnosis and physiotherapy for the Zander.
The Schulhof brothers in close cooperation with Dr. Moll, Károly were the ones who created the base for this very systematic development of the spa which made it suitable to serve the goals of the Hungarian Health Care System. Dr. Moll, Károly was the first to use subaqualis tractio in the world. World War I checked the growth of the bath, it has increased again since 1923, when the bath fused with the settlement nearby, making the surrounding fields vanish.
Third part
Between 1944-46 the buildings were used as a hospital first by the German then by the SovietSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
. In 1948 a period of state ownership came. The State Medicinal Bath, Hévíz (It is the St. Andrew's State Hospital for Rheumatology and Rehabilitation today.) was established by the Ministry of Health on 1 January 1952. The number of visitors tripled then quadrupled. The machinery of the hospital and the treatments were made up to date. By 1968 it has become Hungary's most modern winter bath. For the reconstruction of the bath in the 1970s Austrian larch was used. 1986 3 March central buildings of the bath (in the lake) burnt down. In September 1989 the reconstruction of the destroyed parts was finished. The new set of buildings was more attractive and up to date than the previous one. To day the area of the Institution is 620,000 square metres. The plans of further reconstruction of the park
Park
A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...
and buildings were completed between 2000 and 2002.
The very much sophisticated complex balneotherapy of Hévíz and the spa are part of the world's cultural heritage.
Hévíz is served by FlyBalaton Airport, which is approx. 12 km (7 mi) from the town.
Twin towns
Hévíz is twinnedTown twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
with:
External links
- heviz.hu
- Aerial photographs: Hévíz
- Hévíz - Hévíz