Meskó Csaba: Thermal Baths - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1999)

Dagály medicinal baths 34-36 Népfürdő utca, District XIII

The hydrogeological properties of the area of today's Dagály Baths were known long before the baths’ well was drilled. Across from the inlet of the Rákos Creek and today's baths the so-called Fürdősziget (Bathers Island) in the Danube can no longer have been much more than a large shoal a hundred years ago, as it was only accessible when the water was low. In the 19th century, geologist József Szabó mentions some 40-50 springs welling up on the island at temperatures between 24°C and 59°C. At the time of the large-scale regulation of the Danube in the 1870s and 1880s, the island was swept away, with the result that the springs now welled up at the bottom of the river bed. The idea suggested itself that the waters thus seeping into the river be tapped by depth drilling on the bank.

As a result of drilling operations carried out in 1943-44, water rushed up from a depth of 125.94 metres at a rate of six thousand litres per minute and a temperature of 41.5°C. Designs for the baths had already been completed before the war, but their realisation only became feasible in 1947-48. The inauguration ceremony was held in September 1948. The water supplies of the baths, which had three pools at the time, was provided by its own well,

Thermal pool in Dagály

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