Kisné Cseh Julianna (szerk.): Annales Tataienses IV. Arx – oppidum - civitas. A vártól a városig. Tata évszázadai. Tata Város Önkormányzata – Mecénás Közalapítvány, Tata, 2004.
Körmendi Géza: Tata-Tóváros, mint kedvelt fürdő- és üdülőhely (1773–1939)
Tata-Tóváros: a popular bathingand holiday resort (1733-1939) Géza Körmendi Tata and its vicinity has been inhabited ever since the Palaeolithic age - primarily due to its abundance of water (cold and hot springs, Által-ér). The present study gives an overview of the function of water as "an attractive force for tourists" since the time of the first settlement until 1939. The Roman aqueduct between Tata and Brigetio, the bath belonging to the period of Matthias ("King's and Queen's Bath"), the medieval "Bath of the Old Queen" as well as the "Turkish Bath" and the "Warm Baths" were constructed owing to the activity of affluent springs. Count József Esterházy, who purchased the estate in 1727, had the ruinous bath restored between 1733 and 1738. The swimming pool of the Piarist grammar school was constructed in the 19 th century. After the Compromise of 1867 tub-baths in accordance with middle-class demands were constructed, then, at the beginning of the 20 th century, modern open-air baths. Numerous studies, scholarly discourses and articles discussed the spring-water of Tata; as a result, in 1886 plans were being outlined to conduct the water to the capital. According to those remembering, in the 1880s the Jewish public bath was already in operation at No. 8 Fürdő Street. In 1895 the Wagner family opened their tub-bath in their house on the corner of Hajdú Street and Malom Alley. After World War I, the public cold-water pool (11 x 7 x 1.5 m [length x width x depth]) in the yard of the house was run by Gyula Wagner, a former prisoner of war. The water of the baths was supplied by the Lopresty Spring (21 C°), which rose from the neighbouring garden of the nunnery of the Sisters of Mercy. At the beginning of the 1900s the magistracies came to a decision to establish baths and thus utilize the water of hot-water springs that gushed forth in the area of the two townships. First, the Eszterházy estate developed the Hattyúliget (Swans' Grove) cold-water bath (1903) through the regulation of the overflowing water of the Tükör (Mirror) Spring and the Najád (Naiad) or Angyal (Angel) Spring, both of which rose in the landscape garden. Between 1907 and 1922 the Hungarian Swimming Association organized its swimming competitions here. The changing-cubicles of the Kristály (Crystal) swimming pool (reconstructed and supplied with terraced places for sunbathing, sand baths and floats in 1922) were burnt down in 1926. Next year a three-pool open-air bath was constructed meeting the exigencies of the time. In 1903 Tata township developed a bath for the public on the Fényes Springs, utilising the overflowing water. The magistracies of the two townships requested the Count to permit bathing in Nagy Lake; the estate allocated a lake-side beach on the most beautiful part of Tóváros. 243
