N. Kósa Judit - Szablyár Péter: Underground Buda - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2002)

From the Muddy Baths to Szent Gellért tér

has become a popular shrine again and the first stop along walks around Gellért Hill.

Hidden beneath the tram stop at the Buda end of Szabadság Bridge there is a spring basin stretching over an area of 103 square metres. Its huge vault is supported by a 9.5 metre reinforced column of a hexagonal section with a footpath on its side from where we can look down at the steaming pond fed by springs gushing forth from the depth. Known and treasured from medieval times for its medicinal effects, the cluster of springs was called Sárosfürdő, or Muddy Bath (except during Turkish times when it was known as Achick ilid- je, or open thermal baths). The area was tidied up in 1894, when the Francis Joseph (today Szabadság) Bridge was being built, which was followed by the construction of the Gellért Hotel and Medicinal Baths in 1912—18.

János Molnár, who had begun the regular measurement of the springs as early as 1870, observed that the water yield depended on the levels of the Danube flowing nearby. As a consequence of this undesirable correlation, the contaminated waters of the springs can no longer be conducted to the prestigious medicinal hotel and baths. (Alternative water supplies have been secured). However, the unique well-pond is still an impressive, mysterious sight. It recalls a poem by Benedek Virág (1754—1830, poet, historian, literary translator and Pauline monk), in which Gellért Hill is referred to as Kelen Hill:

■ Medicinal .spring imide Gellért Hill

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