Fürdők – Fürdőhelyek, Magyarország fürdőépítészete (Budapest, 2008)

and spiritual purification generated the spreading of bathhouses over the rivers in Europe's big towns from the second half of the 18th century. It happened these days that the first luxurious spas were built in Europe, mixing the local traditions with the Eastern ones. In addition to travelogues on the Eastern spas, Fischer von Erlach let us know about The Császárfürdő Spa in Budapest, and in 1721 he even published a layout facade and a facade of the building. From his description we know, the octagonal shaped pool was housed by a dome, decorated by small star-shaped cracks, and people could get from the central place to the connecting rooms through the ogee-arch cut into the walls. In the 18th century people all over Europe were deeply interested in the Eastern spas. In Paris, where the Egyptian style was particularly popular, luxurious baths for both private and public purposes were built where they could bathe for a small fee, but Chinese-style baths were frequented as well. In 1836 even a "hamam" was opened in Paris. In Stuttgart, Leo Vetter created a public bath in Moorish style that, unluckily, did not survive. In several of his publications, Vetter called for modern spas. In these places the halls for reading and playing activities served not only physical but mental purification as well. Originally, these halls could never be found in the Turkish baths, in the case of Vessel a revival of the ancient times may be suggested. When he supplied the bath with indirect lights, a dome and a central place covered with carpets, actually he used Moorish and Saracenic architectural elements common in the East. Oskal Lassar, a social reformer and the person who was particularly against the bath, built exclusively for the purpose of recreation, was stressed by the importance of hygienic education and fought for the wide-spread use of showers. Although bathing in the rivers had about a hundred-year-old tradition in 1880, his motto that urged a shower for a German every week, was not realised. In 1883 thousands of the visitors of an exhibition used the public showers but very few of the big cities had big enough showers. Especially those living in the slums missed this kind of comfort. It was in Liverpool in 1842 that the first house for bathing and washing clothes was opened and by 1854 13 of them were in use. Gottfried Semper was also interested in the new challenge. In 1850, while in exile, he went from Paris to London to study the new establishments. In Germany, Hamburg was the first town to start a place of this kind, and the designer was William Lindley, a British architect. He solved the problem of sewage disposal and water supply system in the town. He designed the facility according to British traditions, and had a circle-shaped layout as well as 53 tubs and 33 washing stands. In the middle a 40-meter-tall chimney was situated. Males and females used different wings of the bath: a two-meter-high wooden wall separated the cells, the doors opened from a circle-shaped corridor. The bathtubs were made of zinc or some other low-priced material. The taps were operated by the staff. The room, where the clothes were washed and dried, was built in the females' wing, who could get in through a separated door. The circle-shaped layout was a novelty, those in Britain had a square shape.