Bathing in Buda – The Rudas Spa

27-03-1831, Buda (today part of Budapest, German: Ofen)

1 sheet, drawings with handwritten notes on paper; 63 × 48 cm

National Archives of Hungary
HU-MNL-OL – T 62 – No. 898

The document presented is the plan for the renovation of Buda’s famous Rudas Spa, in 1831. It comes from the Hungarian Royal Chamber, the national government body of economic and financial administration between 1528 and 1848, which operated under the direction of the central organs of Vienna.

 Bathing in Buda has a long history, dating back to Roman times.The Rudas bath, however, is comparatively recent; it was built by the Turks, and its Turkish name was once the ‘Green Column Bath’ (Yesil Direkli Ilıca in Turkish), which was taken from one of the green columns of vaults above the spa pool. After the recapture of Buda castle in late 17th century, the Hungarian Royal Chamber donated the spa to the city. From the 19th century onwards, Rudas bath became a centre of social life, with an orchestra playing in the yard.

The plan refers to the rebuilding of the bath in a classicist style that took place in 1831-1832, based on the plans of the architect József Dankó. Its original and characteristic octogonal pool can be easily discerned in the plan. The city of Buda added a bathtub and stone bath to the old Turkish bath, and also set up a 15-room guest house.

 Sadly, the classicist-style building complex shown on the plan was destroyed during the siege of Budapest in 1944.

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