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 so...