The hottest bath in the world. Construction of elite baths of any complexity

Smear yourself in mud, bury yourself in the sand or sit in the refrigerator - what would you go to to cleanse your body and spirit? You will be surprised at the answers that residents give to this question. different countries. The concept of personal hygiene in modern world does not vary too much in individual countries, but bathing traditions are often strikingly different. We are accustomed to perceive the steam room as relaxation at high temperatures with thick steam and a vigorous massage with a broom. But the baths of the peoples of the world can surprise and sometimes shock with their original traditions.

Even European versions of bath procedures have unique features. The differences relate not only to temperature conditions, but also to the requirements for appearance to visit the steam room. And numerous oriental techniques are completely striking in their exoticism. Each nation of the world has its own unique traditions, and therefore the types of baths simply cannot be counted. We have collected the most interesting types of procedures from different parts of the world to show the whole spectrum of the world's bath culture. We did not bypass our native Russian bath, which occupies a special place. It is distinguished not only by a number of unique traditions, but also by a rich history.

The roots of the modern Russian bath

It is not known exactly when it entered the life of the Eastern Slavs, but we know that life in Rus' has always been closely connected with the bath. Probably, this happened back in the times of paganism, and since then the bath was perceived not only as a place for ablutions, but also as a purification of the human spirit. The significance of these procedures for our ancestors is evidenced by the fact that when an agreement was concluded with Byzantium in 907, it contained a separate clause that the ambassadors of Kievan Rus could freely visit the baths of Constantinople. Also, the mention of the Russian bath is found in the legendary chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years" (dated from the beginning of the XII century).

In the past, people in the villages took a steam bath in the black. The bath building was a wooden frame without a chimney, and the hearth was located directly in the steam room. The hearth was covered with a special grate on which stones lay. When the firewood burned in the hearth, they heated the stones. The smoke came out through a small window and an open door. At the same time, the floor, ceiling and walls in the steam room were evenly heated. The walls were covered with soot. It was believed that she disinfected the tree.

In this way, the bath was heated for two to three hours, after which ash and coals were taken out of the steam room, and people could go to steam. It is noteworthy that in the steam room heated in this way, childbirth even took place in the past. For comparison, a white bath is now common, in which the stove is in the dressing room, and not in the steam room. The building itself has a chimney, and therefore the smoke does not enter the steam room, but is immediately taken out.

Most often, baths were built near water bodies, into which steamy people jumped even in winter to cool their bodies, which terrified visiting foreigners. They were no less surprised by the tradition of rubbing the body heated in the steam room with snow. Saturday was considered a bathing day in Rus', when people heated a steam room for half a day to relax in it after a week of work.

It is noteworthy that in home baths it was customary to bathe all together - for women, for men, and for children. But in public baths, a ban was still introduced on the joint stay in the steam room, and there were separate male and female halves. And in the middle of the 18th century, a ban was even issued on the fact that male children over seven years old were in the female half.

In the 19th century, they began to keep records of bathing institutions, and such data came down to us that at the beginning of the century before last, in Moscow alone, there were officially seventy state-owned baths and about one and a half thousand private steam rooms. At the beginning of the 20th century, even every medical institution had a bath complex at its disposal. By that time, doctors appreciated the beneficial effect of bath procedures on human health and began to prescribe them for the treatment of a number of diseases. For example, obesity, gout, rheumatism and many other ailments were treated in the steam room.

In 1808, the well-known Sandunovsky baths were opened in Moscow, which are still working today, enjoying fame among modern lovers of a steam bath.

Bath traditions of northern Europe

The most famous type of European bath in our area is the Finnish sauna. Its distinctive feature is in very high temperatures (up to one hundred degrees) with low humidity. Here you will not see thick steam. Extremely high temperatures in tandem with dry air contribute to the fact that the human body quickly begins to remove fluid from the body, and sweat immediately evaporates directly from the surface of the skin. Thus, the skin is protected from overheating.

Do not enter the sauna with metal objects on the body, as under the influence of high temperatures they heat up quickly and can burn. Therefore, it is better to leave all rings, earrings and chains at home. But you need to take a long towel with you to the steam room to cover a wooden bench in the sauna with it. Without this accessory, you risk burning your body.

Another northern European power, Germany, has very interesting bathing traditions. In the modern culture of this country, large bath complexes are developed, divided into two parts. Baths are located in one, and in the second you can have fun in the pools with water slides. It is interesting that if swimming trunks and swimsuits are allowed in the pools, then in the bath you must definitely take off even this meager clothing. Covering nudity is allowed with towels. The ban on bathing suits is due to the fact that local attendants are sure that synthetic fabrics begin to evaporate under the influence of high humidity and high temperatures. harmful substances. For the same reason, in rubber slippers in baths in Germany, the path is ordered.

Another feature of the German baths is that they are considered a place of family pastime, because there is no division into female and male halves. And the central event in the German bath is the so-called aufguss. This is a special and spectacular procedure, similar to which is not in other cultures. It consists in the fact that the attendant at a certain time in the steam room begins to pour water on the stones on the stove. At the same time, fragrant essential oils are added to the water, and the room is filled with fragrant odors. After that, the attendant, with the help of a special fan, begins to disperse the fragrant steam along the ceiling of the steam room and fan people with it, pouring jokes and jokes. The whole procedure takes up to 12 minutes, during which visitors are not allowed to walk around the premises or leave it, so as not to let off steam.

In Iceland, the baths make the most of the rich possibilities of nature. A key place is given to pools filled with volcanic thermal water.

In these pools there are special openings through which water enters them. The walls in the Icelandic bath must be made of stone. They heat up and over time begin to give back heat to the room, which helps maintain a constant high temperature. But the steam in the hall is formed naturally - from the evaporation of thermal water from the pool.

French charm and English restraint in the bath

Not much is known about the bathing traditions of aristocratic France, since it did not bring any unique features to the world movement of steam lovers. But even this picturesque region has its own distinctive traditions and rituals for the bath. The French prefer to bathe in comfort and avoid extreme temperatures.

Entering the bath complex and undressing, visitors first of all go to a special warm room. There they sit down on benches and wait for their bodies to warm up a little and get ready for the next procedure. Then they enter the steam room. True, for a Russian person, a French steam room can be called that with a big stretch, because the air temperature in it does not exceed forty degrees. At the same time, the humidity in the bath is maintained at 60%.

But the main distinguishing feature of the French baths is the next stage - a visit to the bathroom. The person moves to another room, where he takes a fragrant bath. He can independently choose which oils to add to his water, or listen to the opinion of the complex employee.

The Irish bath is also of interest. Unlike the Finnish sauna, it does not knock the visitor off their feet with high temperatures. The Irish bath complex is divided into three rooms with different thermal regimes.

Distinctive features of the baths in Ireland

There in the steam room you will not find a heater on which water is poured to give steam. But the person still sweats profusely, while it is easy for him to breathe, and he experiences comfortable relaxation. The room is heated by hot air, which comes from a special stove and goes through pipes under the floor and along the walls.

They have their own characteristics and bathing traditions of the inhabitants of foggy Albion. The British also prefer medium temperatures with low humidity. The air temperature in the bath rarely exceeds 80 degrees, and they try to keep the humidity level below 50%. It is difficult to call an English steam room and a steam room, since there is no steam there at all.

In this room of the English steam room, it is customary to remain silent, relaxing in silence under the influence of heat.

The most interesting stage in the English bath is preceded by a direct trip to the steam room. Before testing their body for heat resistance, the British, like the French, prefer to preheat the body. To this end, the bath worker covers the client with hot stones - from the heels to the top of the head. The procedure takes about 15 minutes and resembles one of the areas of exotic massage - stone therapy.

After the steam room, the inhabitants of England go to the hall with a pool of cool water. In some cases, hot springs can be located in this room, as England also has hot springs. Visitors can also take a shower if there is no desire to continue bathing procedures. Before leaving, customers have a cup of tea in the lounge.

Baths with thermal springs

The tradition of public places for ablutions and leisure was laid by the ancient Romans, who could not imagine their life without visiting the term. The main requirement for the construction of these establishments was that there should be thermal springs nearby. Due to the peculiarities of the Italian climate, there were no problems with this, and therefore the baths literally strewn every major city.

Not only wealthy patricians, but also poor plebeians could visit the baths - this issue was of great importance in ancient Rome. Even baths for commoners could include the following zones:

• walking parks;
• extensive libraries;
• rooms for physical exercises;
• chat rooms.

And this is without taking into account the halls with swimming pools and steam rooms. Baths for wealthy citizens included all of the above premises, but they amazed with the richness of decoration. They were all marble columns, chiseled sculptures and luxurious mosaics.

In terms, a special order of procedures was observed. The person had to warm up gradually. First, he went into a warm room, heated to 40 degrees. There was a pool where you could relax. Then it was necessary to go to the steam room with an air temperature of up to 70 degrees. This hall also housed a pool with thermal water. In the third room, the temperature reached 85 degrees. After that, the visitor went to a cooler room, where he could cool down in the next pool. And the final chord was a visit to the massage room.

The heat in the terms had two sources. The first is the natural temperature of the water from the thermal springs. And the second - a special stove, located under the floor, heated with firewood. Warm enough to keep constant temperature indoors, as well as for heating stone deck chairs and benches. Modern terms have retained the order of the arrangement of halls with different temperatures, but, of course, the current Italian baths no longer shine with their former splendor.

In Hungary, they adopted the tradition of Roman baths and began to build their public baths on thermal springs. The buildings themselves look incredibly luxurious and are a pleasure to visit. Unlike Germany, public baths in Hungary are divided into male and female halves. But the attitude towards swimsuits is the same - entry into the steam rooms is prohibited in them. It is customary here to cover up nudity with special aprons resembling a kitchen accessory. Male models consist only of the lower part, while female models are equipped with bibs.

The sulfur baths in Tbilisi are also interesting. These Georgian public steam rooms are built on thermal springs, the water in which contains a large amount of hydrogen sulfide. The baths are not as light as in the Roman baths, because their architecture is somewhat different. As a rule, bath complexes are located in semi-basements with windows under the ceiling. The interior is filled with marble and picturesque ceramic tiles.

The steam room in Georgia is traditional, and the main feature is in the pools. A person can relax in sulfur baths with hot or cold water, optionally.

Bath culture in tourist centers

Many of our compatriots like to relax in Turkey and are familiar with the traditions of the local bath, called hammam. Now large resort towns are literally dotted with bath complexes, and more and more Turkish baths are gradually opening in Russia itself. In them, people go not only for oriental flavor and beautiful interior, but also for unique procedures. They include:

• body steaming;
• foam massage;
• wraps;
• rest in a hookah.

The temperature and humidity in the hammam are more favorable for children and people who are not avid steam lovers. The temperature regime is about 50 degrees, and the humidity does not exceed 20%. Breathing in such an atmosphere is easy and comfortable.

The body in the hammam heats up not from thick steam, but from lying on a heated marble slab. In the center of the main hall of the hammam there is a swimming pool, but unlike Russian and European traditions, swimming in it is prohibited. This pool is equipped to maintain a comfortable indoor humidity level. But you can wash off the sweat that has appeared on the body under the shower.

The main highlight of visiting the hamam is a special massage performed with a lot of foam whipped on you. When the visitor is well steamed, the hammam worker starts the massage with the help of a special washcloth glove. A person receives not only a good kneading of the muscles, but also a high-quality scrubbing of the skin of the whole body, and then a wrap. Each hammam also has a special room where visitors can drink tea after bath procedures and even smoke a hookah.

Egypt has a unique culture of visiting the bath - another country popular with our tourists. The Egyptian bath is called "rasoul", and its history goes back to the mists of time, when pharaohs still ruled in that territory. In ancient times, bath procedures were considered by local priests from the point of view of healing. various diseases. Now, bathing for the Egyptians does not carry any sacred meaning, but only a pleasant method of relaxation and recuperation.

A visit to the rasul involves several successive stages. First of all, a person goes to the shower to cleanse the skin. Then he goes to the steam room and after that they apply mud masks and wraps on him. This stage is aimed at cleansing and disinfecting effect.

In the Egyptian bath, one healing mixture is not used for the whole body: a special composition of the mask is prepared for each part of the body.

The air temperature in the Egyptian bath is low - no more than 45 degrees. But the humidity is constantly maintained at the level of 65-80%. This allows you to apply masks without fear that they will dry out instantly. With a mask applied to the body, a person spends about twenty minutes in the steam room, after which he washes it off under the shower. Now comes the turn of rubbing into the skin of healing aromatic oils with antiseptic and softening properties. This process is accompanied by a shallow massage, which additionally relaxes the visitor's body.

Far East bath ritual

Great importance is attached to the tradition of cleansing the body in the Land of the Rising Sun. In Japanese bath culture, there are several different options for how to steam the body. Very popular in Japan are dry baths, which act on the body on the basis of a steam room.

The little man is lowered into a barrel filled with sawdust of a cedar tree or sea pebbles. They often add collections of medicinal plants. The contents of the barrel are heated to 50 degrees. The wise Japanese found out that under the influence high temperature the body begins to actively release sweat, which effectively absorbs the filling of the barrel. In turn, sawdust produces beneficial substances that penetrate well into the body through open pores on the skin. It is desirable to withstand a ten-minute session in such a wellness barrel, but inexperienced people may not be able to endure such a temperature.

There is also a bath-bath option, when the barrel is filled with hot water. Often this is water thermal springs. In public Japanese baths, one large barrel is designed for several people, as in European spas - jacuzzis. Small benches are installed near the inner walls of such huge barrels, on which people sit without interfering with each other. But before entering the barrel of water, the visitor must thoroughly wash himself in the shower, as the water in it is not changed for each client.

Another interesting feature of Japanese baths: in some pairs, visitors take ice cubes with them and chew them in the steam room. It is believed that this increases sweating and helps to cope with high temperatures more easily.

No less curious are the traditions of going to the bathhouse in China. Modern Chinese bath complexes in terms of the list of services are approaching comfortable hotels. In addition to steam rooms and pool halls, there are also rooms with beds where you can stay overnight, and even concert halls. The complex of procedures in the bath begins with a bath. There are several jacuzzis with water of different temperature in the room. Often, bright petals of fragrant flowers swirl on the surface, and aromatic oils are added to the water.

Steam rooms may differ in different complexes. In some there are compact cabins that are located right next to the jacuzzi. The air temperature in them does not exceed 80 degrees. In others, a huge stone, bursting with heat, can be brought into the steam room along special rails. Visitors pour water over it, thanks to which the room is filled with steam. And to cool off after the steam room, some complexes offer visitors snow rooms. Generators produce artificial snow in them, and you can cool off on the benches there, sitting at a temperature of minus 10.

The real value of Chinese baths lies in the massages that follow the steam bath. At your request, the massage therapist can work out every cell of the body or concentrate on a particular part of the body. Foot massage using bamboo rods is in great demand among visitors to the baths.

Outlandish bath traditions

In some countries, there are really unusual bathing rituals. For example, in Mexico, representatives of individual Indian tribes still practice the custom of their ancestors - temazcal. It consists in the fact that people went into a small spherical room without windows and made a fire in the middle of it. When the logs were completely burnt through, the door was tightly covered, and the stones with which the fireplace was lined were poured with water. In a room filled with thick steam, people sit for half an hour, after which they go to wash themselves. In addition, during this procedure, they are passed over the body with corn stalks, which is a bit like the Russian tradition of whipping yourself in the bath with brooms.

But for some peoples in Africa, the steam room has a completely unusual look. They don’t build anything here for this, but they dig: the natives dig a hole - exactly such that a person in a sitting position can freely fit into it. A fire was made in this pit, and when it burned out, a layer of hot sand and various medicinal herbs. A person lies down in a hole on this plant "cushion". A new layer of vegetation is laid on top of it and covered with hot sand. There is no specific time how much you need to spend in such an impromptu steam room - it all depends on the person's well-being.

There is a second version of this procedure. It does not use fire, but simply pours boiling water over the pit. After that, the bottom of the pit is covered with plants, and otherwise all actions copy the first method. Among African peoples, such steam rooms are used not so much to relax the body, but to heal a person from any disease.

It is interesting that a similar ritual is found on a completely different continent. So, in Central Asia in Tibet, a similar procedure is used, also to heal a person from ailments. A hole is also dug in the ground, at the bottom of which a fire is made. Only animal bones are placed in the fire along with brushwood. When everything completely burns out, the coals are methodically leveled along the bottom of the pit and branches of coniferous trees are placed on them in several layers. Then a person sits there, who is covered with a dense cloth with his head. It is necessary to sit like this for at least half an hour. When a person is taken out of the pit, he is wrapped in several blankets and then massaged using healing ointments.

The bathing tradition in India may seem no less surprising. Here, before going to the bath, the first thing people do is coat the whole body with a mud mixture made on the basis of earth, essential oils and various spices. Sometimes a mixture of flour with crushed nuts is used instead of earth. After applying to the body, this layer is periodically moistened with water so that it does not dry out. After a while, the mud mask is washed off and they go to the steam room. Right in the steam room you can get a massage with rice bags. Healing steam is supplied to the room - from herbal infusion. True, the design of the Indian steam room is specific: with holes in which you can stick your head out, since it is believed that it cannot be soared.

The traditions of washing and steaming the body in many countries have something in common, but they have a number of interesting features that make you want to try different methods on yourself. In some places, massage techniques are at the forefront, and in others, the beneficial effects of water. But in the end, all the rituals and procedures in the baths are aimed at improving the well-being of a person and giving him vigor.

Do you love the bath and know everything about the bath? Have you ever soared on a funicular or tram? A broom and a tub are not enough for people of our time, give them something unusual. And after all, they serve it - in the strangest baths in the world. Let's go through them.

Extreme sauna in Ylläs (Finland)

Why is there a lift in ski resorts? Of course, for the quick ascent of skiers to the slope. But in Finland they decided differently: why don’t those who are inside the lift not spend time with benefit? During the entire time that the lift goes up and then down, vacationers can enjoy all the delights of a real steam room. "Flying bath" is designed for a company of four people. An extreme part of the "cultural program" can be the traditional "diving" into the snow on one of the mountain peaks.

Bath-message in Milan (Italy)

While Estonians are participating in a large-scale sauna marathon and running around the city, looking for saunas using maps, Italians offer tourists a more measured option - a sauna in a tram car. The authors of the idea planned to prove to everyone that Milan public transport is not a place to get another portion of stress. They are sure that in city trams one can relax, dream and have a rest. Unusual bath is ready to take up to 10 people at the same time. After a standard set of procedures, vacationers can take a breath in front of a plasma screen, on which videos about the history of Milan's public transport are played non-stop.

Sauna is not for everyone in Budapest (Hungary)

At the foot of Mount Gellert stands a luxurious hotel built at the beginning of the last century. But all fans of spa treatments know this place thanks to the famous Gellert baths. Marble columns, monumental arches, stained-glass windows of amazing beauty, exquisite mosaics in steam rooms and baths… A truly charming atmosphere has been created here. Vacationers are invited to visit three levels. Perhaps, all the most interesting awaits the guests of the lower tier: there is a hammam, a sauna and three baths. The water in each bath is of a certain temperature: cold, warm and hot. Bath treatments can be supplemented with a massage or a mud bath. On the second level there is a swimming pool, the roof over which moves apart. The pool is surrounded by a two-tier colonnade with galleries. In the yard there is another pool with its "excesses": an artificial wave and cascades of stone terraces.

Bath for contemplators in Tokyo (Japan)

Many things in the Land of the Rising Sun seem surprising and unusual to Europeans, including public sento baths. Sterile cleanliness, tranquility, the absolute absence of haste or fuss along with a strict sequence of all procedures are the main features of Japanese baths. One of the most popular sento is the Daikoku-Yu bath in Tokyo. It first opened its doors to visitors in 1927. In the 90s, a large-scale reconstruction was carried out inside the building, while the external appearance remained intact. Today, few tourists can distinguish a public bath in the outlines of a Buddhist temple. Without exception, all sento visitors must comply with the most stringent requirements, so bathing procedures are slightly reminiscent of a measured ritual. Get rid of shoes first, then clothes. Next, thoroughly wash yourself in the shower on a special tiny stool, and only then take a dive into one of the baths, where you can finally completely relax. By the way, the bath is shared: several people can be in it at the same time. In Daikoku-Yu there are several such baths, with hot and cool water, as well as with a massage effect. Another bath - roten-buro - is located in the courtyard, which is surrounded by a small garden, of course, in the Japanese style. Those with tattoos are usually reluctant to enter sento, but in Daikoku-Yu, they say, you can easily find yourself in the same bath with a yakuza whose body is painted “under Khokhloma”. It is interesting that recently, in an attempt to popularize sento among tourists, the owners, with the support of local authorities, began to publish special instructions-comics that do not allow breaking the main rules of sento.

Steam room for party people in Berlin (Germany)

In 2005, the Liquidrom bathhouse was opened in Berlin - an ideal option for party-goers. A visit to the steam room, diving in the pool or massage treatments are accompanied by popular dj sets. Those who wish are invited to visit the Finnish sauna, salt cave or visit the panoramic sauna, one of the walls of which is made of glass. Every hour the lucky ones can get free massage treatments: honey, salt or aromatic. If you want more intense relaxation, you can order a Balinese massage with herbal bags or a Thai massage with hot stones. A favorite place for guests is a huge swimming pool, where impromptu discos are held - jaunty music combined with multi-colored lighting create the necessary mood. Interestingly, if you dive, it seems as if loud music is playing in the headphones. In addition, live concerts are organized by the pool on weekends for every taste: from classical and jazz to rock and electronica.

Space bath (CS "Mir")

Is there life on Mars? Science does not know this. But it is known for certain that a real sauna was once located on the Mir space station. The special design of the steam room was developed by employees of the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation, headed by Vladimir Komolov, who began working on the project as a student. The cosmonauts themselves, on the one hand, were pleased, they even asked for birch brooms to be delivered. On the other hand, they complained about the exhausting cleaning after each “wash”, and the low efficiency of the process - the water was “smeared” over the body, like jelly. However, due to significant energy consumption and excessive water consumption, the steam room was dismantled. Today, astronauts have to make do with special wipes and "dry" shampoo.

Bath in Giusti Cave (Tuscany, Italy)

The history of the unique thermal spring began in 1848, when it was accidentally found by workers in Giusti Cave. A visit to this place is unforgettable: the unique outlines of stalactites and stalagmites, shadows moving along the walls of labyrinths and an eerie silence. To reach the natural spring, located at a depth of 200 meters underground, guests are invited to go through three zones with very symbolic names - "Paradise", "Purgatory" and "Hell". The closer to "Hell", the higher the temperature. High humidity and natural air ventilation mechanism makes the stay in the cave extremely comfortable. The brochure says that a visit to Giusti Cave will cleanse the body of toxins and fully restore both physical and mental balance. And if you can argue about the latter (phobias are not easy to defeat!), then the unique natural atmosphere of the ancient grotto, for sure, has a beneficial effect on the body.

Russian banya, dry sauna and Turkish hammam are very popular in post-Soviet countries. However, there are a lot of exotic types of steam rooms in the world, each of which impresses with its features. You can learn more about the varieties in our material.

Content:

In addition to the traditional wet Russian bath, the usual dry-air Finnish sauna and the newfangled Turkish hammam, which are widely used in our country, there are many more various kinds paired. Almost every nationality has its own baths. Each of them has its own characteristics and secrets. It is possible to consider all types of baths and their specifics endlessly, because some peoples even have several of them. For example, among Japanese steam rooms, three types are distinguished at once - sento, ofuro and furako. We will consider the most interesting varieties of pairs.

egyptian rasoul mud bath

Bath rasoul comes from ancient Egypt. It is known that the pharaohs themselves were her admirers. This is an exotic and powerful water-steam procedure. In addition to warming up, it includes wrapping the body with therapeutic mud, sand, herbal and algae extracts, and clay.

Rasul has a positive effect on the skin - rejuvenates it, cleanses it. In addition, healing substances through the heated skin freely penetrate to the internal organs, saturating them and healing.

Rasul mud baths are famous for their complex construction. Traditionally they have two floors. On the first one there is a technical zone - powerful steam generators are located here. Part of the steam is supplied through a special hole to the second floor straight into the steam room. The other part is distributed along the niches in the walls and floor of the second floor. Thus, the room is heated, and the temperature is constantly the same.

Visitors are on the second floor. Here, in addition to the steam room, there is a pool with cold water, as well as marble heated beds for massage.

A session in the Rasul bath begins with the fact that the visitor must thoroughly wash himself and wipe himself dry. After that, you should go to a wet steam room. The temperature here is low - only about +40 degrees, but the humidity reaches 80%. After the body is well steamed, it is treated with mud compositions on sunbeds. Useful substances should be on the skin for about 15 minutes. After that, the visitor leaves the steam room and goes under the rain shower. At the end, emollient and antiseptic oils are applied to the body.

This procedure has a beneficial effect not only on the skin, but also on internal organs, psycho-emotional state.

Egyptian sand bath

About her useful properties known in ancient Egypt. According to the ancient Roman and Greek healers Pliny, Galen, Celius and Herodotus, the sandy steam room has a beneficial effect on human blood vessels and helps to remove fatty deposits.

Vertical sand bath

The essence of the procedures is as follows:

• We dig a hole in the sand to the height of a person and, if necessary, clean it from large debris, algae, stones. The sand used is fine and uniform.
• Let the sand in the pit warm up well in the sun. It should be hot on the bottom and walls.
• A person becomes in this recess. We fill it with sand to the level of the neck.
• We cover the head of the vacationer with a dry towel or umbrella to prevent heat stroke.

The duration of such a session is from five to twenty minutes.

Depending on the goals pursued and personal wishes, the sand bath provides for additional procedures:

1. During the session, a person is given a watermelon to provoke increased sweating. It is recommended for people suffering from kidney stones.
2. After the procedures, the vacationer wraps himself in a dry towel, drinks tea or broth to restore water balance.
3. After the bath, a person bathes in sea or fresh water.

When the body is in the sand, it warms up evenly. The released sweat is also absorbed into the sand in the same way in all areas. Because of this, the vacationer does not feel discomfort, as with a temperature difference.

Horizontal sand bath

Please note that visiting such a bath has its own contraindications. These include anemia, general emaciation, and pneumonia.

You can organize a kind of "steam room" as follows:

• We dig a pit with a depth of 0.3-0.4 meters, its width and length depends on the height and weight of the vacationer.
• We leave it to warm up in the sun to + 60-70 degrees.
• The person lies down in a recess. We fill it with sand to a level of 10-12 cm. At the same time, the layer of sand on the stomach should not exceed 3 cm, and leave the heart area open.
• Wrap your head with a damp towel or set up an umbrella.

The duration of the session is up to 40 minutes. After the procedures, you need to rest in the shade for 15-20 minutes and then take a shower.

The main advantage of this type of steam room is that you can easily build a sand bath with your own hands. To do this, it is enough just to go to the beach with fine sand closer to noon, when the air temperature is high enough to warm up the pit of the desired depth. If there is no opportunity to get to the beach, then you can use this service in the spa.

A sand bath is a great alternative for people with fungal diseases who are not recommended to visit a traditional steam room.

Czech beer bath

This innovation appeared in the Czech Republic about 9 years ago in the Chodovar brewery. They say that a visit to the beer steam room leads to saturation of the body useful vitamins(beer contains a lot of vitamin B), the removal of toxins and toxins. The skin after such a procedure is smooth and tender. The effect is noticeable for several weeks. According to some reports, bathing in beer can even protect a person from the evil eye.

The essence of the beer bath is to heat the drink and mineral water in equal proportions to a temperature of +37 degrees and fill the bath, which is traditionally presented in the form of an oak barrel. The duration of the session should not exceed 30 minutes. After the procedure, you need to wrap up and sleep. Washing in water immediately is not recommended.

Contraindications to visiting a beer steam room: drops blood pressure, vascular inflammation, pregnancy, age up to 12 years. It is undesirable to abuse the intoxicating drink while taking a bath.

japanese sento bath

The Japanese sacredly honor their traditions, and therefore today, like several centuries ago, they equip their bath in accordance with all the ancient rules. The Japanese sento building resembles a Shinto shrine. A blue curtain with the hieroglyph "boiling water" is hung at the entrance.

Japanese bath device

Features of the Japanese bath device of this type:

1. After entering the bath, a shoe-removing compartment is set up. It is common for men and women.
2. From it, two different entrances lead to two separate rooms (datsuiba) - male and female, which are not very different from each other. Entrances are closed with special curtains. Here you can undress and leave your things in the locker. In modern sentos, it is in this room that vending machines with drinks and ice cream are installed.
3. Between the men's and women's locker rooms there is a kind of pedestal (bandai), the height of which reaches 1.8 meters. An attendant (usually a woman) sits on it, who oversees the female and male halves of the sento. The clock is on top.
4. Behind the bath area is usually located a boiler room, called a kamaba. It heats up water.

Bath procedures in sento

Features of bathing in sento:

• The vacationer leaves his clothes in the dressing room and goes to a small compartment where you can take a basin and other accessories.
• Then it goes to the bath area, where hot and cold water flows from two hoses. The man washes his body thoroughly.
• After washing, the vacationer can begin to bathe in a special pool with water, the temperature of which reaches +55 degrees. The procedures in it last about 15 minutes.
• At the end of the hall there are baths with water of different temperatures.
• After the session, the Japanese traditionally drink herbal tea. Some commercial sentos offer additional treatments after washing - body wraps, masks. Massage is very popular. It has an excellent healing effect.

Georgian baths

Such hygienic buildings are based on the use of steam that comes from hot springs located in the mountains. They also take water. Ceramic pipes are used to supply it to the bath. Water flows into large pools lined with marble.

As a rule, baths were arranged in large grottoes. For their illumination, ancient torches were used, which emphasized the indescribable atmosphere of sulfuric water, over which smoke swirled.

In addition to performing the main function - healing, the traditional Georgian bathhouse acted as a restaurant establishment. Here they gathered for business meetings and just spent time at a meal.

In modern Georgian baths, along with bath procedures, massage with the help of a special hard mitten, which is made from wool, is popular. In addition, an interesting addition is the work of a choir performing Georgian songs in such baths.

Moroccan bath

As for this type of baths, it is more popular with women, because it involves an integrated approach to cleaning and caring for the body, nails, and hair. The procedures have an excellent rejuvenating and healing effect. Such steam rooms are especially popular in Arab countries. In the Moroccan bath, the vacationer remains in shorts during the procedures.

Moroccan bath in the spa

In spas, this procedure is traditionally carried out in the following sequence:

1. The vacationer lies down on the massage table, and the air in the room is smoothly and gradually warmed up to +40 degrees. This helps open up the pores.
2. The masseur kneads and relaxes the skin with probing and stroking. This process takes about 20 minutes.
3. A warming suspension is applied to the skin, which provokes a burning sensation. It cleanses the skin from dead tissue.
4. The body is washed with algae sponges, which have been soaked in aromatic oils.
5. The mask is gently and gently applied to the skin. It consists of ground algae, healing mud and essential oils.
6. To give the hair lightness, silkiness and obedience, a special mask is also applied to them. The process will take about 20 minutes.
7. After such procedures, tea drinking follows. Drinks with specific flavors tone up and improve overall well-being.
8. At the end of the tea ceremony, the masters take care of the nails.

On average, the duration of a visit to such a bath is about five hours. However, the session includes a full range of services.

Classic Moroccan bath

Such a bath perfectly helps to remove toxins and promotes weight loss. The steam in it can reach a temperature of +52 degrees. It is divided into several rooms - a dressing room and walk-through rooms. The latter usually looks like a traditional steam room in a Russian bath.

The procedure is carried out directly in the steam room in this order:

• First, the vacationer stirs water in a bucket, washes his body and hair, pouring water on himself with a ladle.
• The masseur smears the body with a special black soap.
• The skin is thoroughly rubbed with a kitty (hard mitten).
• The body is washed clean with water.
• A ghassoul clay mask is applied to the skin. After that, you can sit down to rest for 15-20 minutes.
• The mask is washed off, and the vacationer washes in plenty of water.
• The procedures end with tea drinking to restore water balance.

Indian bath

The Indian bath is considered one of the oldest varieties. Admirers of Ayurveda use it for health purposes even today. The classic Indian bath is a whole ritual of sequential actions.

It consists of the following steps:

1. Preparing for the Purification Ritual. At this stage, you should prepare the pre-bath room - turn on quiet music for relaxation, prepare an aroma lamp, light candles.
2. Stage Lashley. This is a foot washing procedure. A special small foot bath is being prepared. Milk whey is added to warm water, essential oil roses. In the process of ablution, the specialist should massage the legs, use acupuncture points and act through the feet on the entire body.
3. Udvartana. At this stage, the whole body should be rubbed with sesame oil. After that, a special herbal powder prepared according to Indian recipes is rubbed into the skin. traditional recipes. It is quite difficult to cook it on your own, because it includes up to a thousand different medicinal herbs. However, you can limit yourself to your favorite herbs that are at hand. They need to be ground to dust in a mortar before use.
4. Swedana Indian Bath. At this stage, the person is placed in a special wooden box. At its bottom there are containers with decoctions of herbs, which are heated by means of an oven located outside. On top of these containers, a special grate-partition is placed through which steam enters the booth. It closes with a lid covered with foil. The head remains outside. The procedure lasts about 20 minutes. This time is enough for your body to be saturated with the healing powers of the herbs. Swedana can be done sitting or lying down.
5. Recovery. At the next stage, the person must recover from the steam room. You need to take a shower, wash off the sweat and the remnants of herbs.
6. Abhyanga. This is a special massage after the Indian steam room. It is done in four hands.
7. Shirodhara. It is a soothing and relaxing treatment. It consists in the fact that heated sesame oil is poured into the zone of the "third eye" in the center of the forehead from a certain height.

At the end of this lengthy ritual, Indians offer to drink herbal tea to restore water balance in organism. You can also feel the healing power of swedana in modern conditions- many spas offer this service.

Tibetan bath

The Tibetan bath has little in common with our traditional baths. It has not so much a hygienic as a healing effect. In particular, such a bath can help in the treatment of diseases of the musculoskeletal system, colds (without fever), neuralgic disorders.

Traditional Tibetan bath

This bath is rightfully considered one of the most unique in the world. It is possible to build it in modern conditions outside the city.

We carry out work in the following order:

1. We dig a hole in the ground with a depth of about 70-80 cm, so that an adult can fit in it in a sitting position.
2. We prepare dry birch firewood and build a fire at the bottom of the pit.
3. We make a bookmark of firewood two more times.
4. On top of the resulting coals we lay the old bones of animals. We make sure that they burn out completely.
5. On top of the resulting coals and ashes, we put a layer of birch firewood.
6. We cover firewood with spruce, cedar or juniper paws.

The bath is ready. A person is seated on coniferous branches, covered with a thick blanket or animal skin. In such a bath, you need to spend about 20 minutes to sweat well. After that, the person should lie down to rest for at least two hours. The procedure ends with a full body massage and rubbing with therapeutic ointments.

City Tibetan bath

Not every person has the opportunity to create a Tibetan bath using classical technology. However, in modern spas and many treatment centers there is an analogue of the Tibetan steam room. The hole in the ground was successfully replaced with a closed barrel structure. The person is placed inside, the head is left outside. These barrels are usually made from oak or cedar.

Bonfires in this case, of course, do not kindle. Steam inside run through the steam generator. The air is enriched with aromatic oils and herbal extracts. Humidity in the barrel reaches 100%, and the temperature - up to 60 degrees.

In some spa salons, such a steam room is combined with a head massage according to the original Tibetan technique. After visiting the barrel, a series of healing water procedures and soap massage are carried out.

Swedish bath bastu

The main feature of the bath in Sweden, which is called bastu, is its mobility and compactness. The construction can be equipped in a few hours almost everywhere: on the lower floors of houses, verandas and attics. It is built from timber or industrial panels. Outside, the building is sheathed with mineral heat-insulating material and clapboard.

The Swedish bastu bath consists of only one steam room. As a heater, it uses a powerful electric furnace, which can warm up the room in half an hour. Bastu must be equipped with a steam generator. Therefore, here you can adjust the appropriate indicators of humidity and temperature. The most favorable microclimate is achieved at temperatures up to +65 degrees and humidity 60-65%.

Another feature of the Swedish bath is a kind of ventilation. The principle of its device is quite often used in Russian baths because of high efficiency. The inlet and outlet openings are equipped at the bottom and equipped with valves. Air enters through the inlet under the stove, passes through the heater and rushes to the ceiling.

The air mass that has “entered” must be forced out through the outflow by the force of pressure. Since the vent is located at a height of 30 cm from the floor and is equipped with a duct leading to the top, near-floor "exhaust" air is released from the room. Good circulation makes it easy to breathe in such a steam room. Such a ventilation system resembles an inverted glass.

Indian bath temazcal

"House of hot stones" - this is how the name of the Indian bath is translated. In the old days, visiting this steam room was part of the ritual of serving the gods.

Indian bath temazcal

Temazcal is a low and round structure made of unbaked brick, stone or clay. Its diameter is usually up to two meters. Due to the small dimensions, the bath warms up quickly, and due to the peculiar round shape, the condensate flows down the walls, and does not drip from the ceiling.

A small window is made at the top of the building. The door, as in the Russian bath, is traditionally equipped with access to the south side. The stove is placed right behind the door. Finishing the steam room and its internal content depends on the taste of the owner.

Rules for visiting the Indian bath temazcal

The temperature in the steam room can reach two hundred degrees. The temazcal Indian bath is prepared for the procedures in this order:

1. We close the door and heat the stove until the walls are heated.
2. In the middle of the room we lay out volcanic stones.
3. We douse the walls with cold water to create steam in the room.
4. Pour aromatic oils or pre-prepared herbal healing decoctions onto the stones. They can be made from rosemary, wormwood, eucalyptus.
5. Preparing corn leaves. It is they who decided to bathe in temazala.
6. We lay banana leaves or straw mats on the benches.
7. We prepare cold water to lower body temperature if necessary.
8. Before entering, apply aloe juice to the body and face.

After the procedures, it is recommended to wrap yourself in a woolen blanket or sheet and rest for 30-50 minutes. Then be sure to replenish the water balance with herbal chamomile tea, yarrow decoction, vegetable or chicken broth. It is not recommended to be in a draft after the session, as you can catch a cold.

Roman bath

In ancient Rome, soldiers built steam rooms in all the conquered territories. The Roman baths got their name because of the construction near thermal water sources, which made it possible not to deal with additional heating of water. Traditionally, libraries were built near the baths, original stadiums for sports competitions. The rooms were decorated with natural stones and precious metals.

Thermal baths are still quite popular in the world. At present, Roman baths are finished in the antique style, but without the use of overly frilly materials. They still consist of several rooms in which different indicators of temperature and humidity are maintained.

A traditional Roman bath consists of:

• Apoditherium - the room in which the vacationer undresses.
• Tepidarium - a room in which the temperature and humidity reach +40 degrees and 40%, respectively.
• Callidarium - humid and hot room. Temperature - up to +50 degrees, and humidity - up to 100%.
• Lakonium - dry and hot room with temperature up to +80 degrees and humidity up to 20%. This room is somewhat similar to the usual Finnish dry-air sauna.
• Frigidarium - a compartment with two unique pools. In one - the water is warm (up to +37 degrees), in the other - cold (up to +12 degrees). Contrasting bathing is carried out here.
• Lavarium - rooms for massage procedures and rubdowns.

Compliance with the rules of visiting the Roman baths will strengthen physical health and improve the psycho-emotional state. As for the positive effect of the term on the human body, these include accelerated metabolism, improved circulation of lymph and blood, and increased immunity.

You can harm your health by visiting a bathhouse with elevated temperature, pregnancy, pneumonia, diseases gastrointestinal tract, the presence of benign and malignant tumors.

Greek bath Laconicum

Similar to the Roman baths were the Greek baths, which were called lakonikum, they gained popularity at the same time as the baths. Design features and finishes are similar to each other, mainly ceramic or marble tiles were used.

A characteristic feature of the Greek bath is the rounded rooms, which is due to the best distribution of heat, according to the Greeks. The air temperature reached +70 degrees, humidity - 20%.

The source of heat was an open hearth located in the middle of the bath, the smoke from which came out through a special cover in the ceiling. Baths and pools for swimming acted as a source of water. After the procedures, the servants scooped up water, since there was no sewer system.

The Greek Laconic baths were of a public nature. After undressing, the Greeks wiped the body with oil and scraped off the dirt using special tools. Then the bathers drank cold water on themselves to strengthen the body. And you could go directly to swimming.

Irish bath

This type of steam room is often compared to Roman baths. It is called one of the softest, because of the moderate indicators of humidity and temperature. It consists of three rooms with different microclimates. The air in the Irish bath is heated through pipes that lead from the stove to the steam room through the underground space.

The Irish bath can be visited even by people suffering from cardiovascular diseases. The session is held in the following sequence:

• We rest in the first room for half an hour. The air temperature in it is + 25-35 degrees.
• We move to the second section with a temperature of + 30-40 degrees. Massage can be done in this room.
• We go to the steam room. The air temperature in it does not exceed +60 degrees. Humidity - no more than 20%.
• After 10-15 minutes of staying in the steam room, we wipe the body with a woolen mitten and go to the washing department.
• For maximum effect, take a contrast shower.

In one session, a vacationer can lose several liters of fluid. After the procedures, it is desirable to replenish the water balance with tea or mineral water without gases.

English bath

The English bath involves unique procedures that make it unlike any other traditional steam room. The thing is that there is no steam and heat as such in it at all.

The essence of the procedures in the English baths is that hot stones are placed on the previously cleansed human body. First on the back, then on the stomach and chest. After such a warming procedure, the vacationer is covered with chilled stones.

Such manipulations with alternating hot and cold smooth stones are repeated several times. The process can be accompanied by a head massage. The session ends with a general relaxing body massage.

Now this procedure is called otherwise - "thermotherapy". It is carried out in many spas.

The Balinese bath is similar to some of the hygienic buildings that are common in Asian countries, such as the Japanese ofuro. Since Bali has a tropical hot and humid climate, there is no need to create an artificial steam room. Bath in Balinese is built near the thermal spring. From it, water enters small pools without even having time to cool. Vacationers are located in companies in such pools. Distinctive features of such baths are the presence of colorful attendants dressed in sarongs, as well as the opportunity to drink drinks and have a snack directly in the bath.

Watch video about the best baths peace. Japanese exotic:

This is not the whole list of exotic baths. However, this is enough to understand that original steam rooms have long been popular with almost every nation. Pairs from different countries differ in their characteristics, but each of them has a positive effect on the body.

“Washed, not washed, but saw water.” During archaeological excavations of ancient cities of various civilizations, not everyone will meet public reading rooms or amphitheaters, but in any settlement there were baths (from Latin balneo - expelling pain, developing sadness). The tradition of cleansing the body goes back to time immemorial. There is a playful legend that after the Flood, a person agreed with God that it would be better now for him to wash himself. Nowadays, there are more than 500 types of baths from the widespread Finnish sauna to the exotic "fat" bath of tundra reindeer herders. In some nations, where water or fuel is worth its weight in gold, baths are “taken” without water, simply by rubbing the body with natural disinfectants, in others only running water is used, since stagnant water in a bath or pool is considered “unclean”.

Baths differences

The differences between the "temples of purification" depended on the climate of the area, the availability of water, fuel and building materials, the characteristics and traditions of the people. Baths differ in their thermal effect on the body. It can be heated to the right temperature:

• dry air,
• steam,
• marble or jadeite (green stone, harder than jade),
• sand,
• barrel with heated sawdust, etc.

By heat source:

• heated floors, walls,
• stone beds,
• hot thermal water,
• stove-heater,
• burying in hot sand
• direct steam supply, etc.

By intensity: soft (Turkish, Roman, Korean, etc.) and intense (Russian, Finnish, Japanese). What baths of all times and peoples agree on is the goal of forcing the body to throw out all the accumulated harmful substances through its 1.5-2 m 2 of skin.

The most common baths and their features

The Russian bath is classically a special stove with direct heating of stones, walls made of logs, shelves made of thick boards and a birch or oak broom. Temperature up to 70°С, humidity up to 65%. Mandatory cooling after a steam room and massage with a broom with cold water, snow or dipping into an ice hole.

Roman baths - 8-10 main departments, a vestibule for undressing, a gymnastics room, rooms with different air temperatures from cool to a steam room, the floor was heated with water, the walls with air from the steam room up to 40-45 ° C, they walked on the floor in special sandals, Each emperor sought to “outdo” the previous one in the construction of baths. Under Diocletian, the largest baths for 3500 people were built, in which there was a pool with a side of 1.5 km. In terms with their "multifunctionality", people stayed for several days, state affairs were decided, negotiations were held.

Swedish (bastu) - designed so that the influx of warm air came from under the floor, reaching the ceiling and gradually cooling down, the air descended and left through the ventilation holes at a height of 30-50 cm from the floor.

swedish bath

The Turkish bath - hammam (Arabic ham - hot) with its structure resembles the sun with rays or the outstretched palm of a person, where the wrist is a dressing room heated to 30-35 ° C, the metacarpus is the main hall (sogoluk), with three pools (hot, cool , cold) and marble deck chairs (chebek tashi), from which five niches of “fingers” depart with different temperatures in them and almost 100% humidity. Such humidity is achieved by direct supply of steam into the room through an opening located at a height of about 1.5 m from the floor. Hamam is one of the most “soft”, sparing baths, since the maximum temperature in it is only 70 ° C. The vault of the ceiling is made with a bowl, so that the water condensing on it does not drip down, but flows down the walls into the outlets.

Helpful advice: Those who are going to visit the hammam for the first time should take into account that the obligatory procedures are: warming up the body for up to half an hour on a stone lounger with rubbing the skin with a camel wool mitten and a “soapy” massage.

Japanese - a feature is that heat is transferred to the body only due to water. The general bath (sento) is just pools with hot water 50-55°C. Home bath (furako) is a wooden font with a heater and seating area. The water heats up to 45-50°С, stay in it for about 15 minutes. After furako, a sawdust or pebble bath (ofuro) follows, when a person is placed in a bath with linden, cedar sawdust or small pebble stone heated to 50 ° C.

Japanese bath

Useful advice: if it became possible to take furaco, you should know that they are located in the font so that the water does not “press” on the heart, it is below the chest. Shoulders and chest should be in the air.

Indian (swedana) - a grate with a box is placed on a container with a heated decoction of herbs, a person is in the box on top, the head is outside the box.

Georgian - only the waters of thermal springs are used, most often baths are organized at the place where they come to the surface (rocks, grottoes).

Thermal Georgian baths

Kraksen or hay (alpine) - a grate with herbs is placed above the steam generator, only herbal steam is supplied.

Moroccan - a feature is that they wash directly in the steam room.

exotic baths

Tibetan - is a pit with a radius and a depth of less than a meter, in which firewood is fired, then dry animal bones are added to the firewood and burned into ash, along with a new portion of firewood. Then, on the resulting “ashes”, the spruce branches of juniper or other bone trees are laid and everything is covered with a skin on top. A person is inside in a sitting position for as long as he can stand. Probably, it is this bath that they mean when they send a rather annoying person there.

African (red) bath - due to lack of water, the skin is rubbed with dry henna, which, being a natural antiseptic, disinfects and disinfects it. Skin color takes on a reddish tint. In desert conditions, the principle “What water does not wash away, sand will wash away” applies.

An Indian (temascal), a round low adobe or stone hut, red-hot volcanic stones are brought into the middle, the walls are poured with water for vaporization, corn leaves are used instead of washcloths.

Traditional Indian temazcal bath

The Chukchi “fat” bath is the most “rare” bath in terms of regularity. In conditions of acute shortage of fuel (moss and rare shrubs in the tundra), heating the amount of water for washing is an unaffordable luxury. In addition, to protect against the cold, the Chukchi rubbed their body with seal fat. Sometimes they made a big fire in the plague, warming up along the way with dancing around it. Having warmed up the body in this way, the skin was scraped off with scrapers and a new layer of fat was applied. In our times, such a bath has sunk into oblivion.

modern baths

Infrared - a modern innovative sauna, where with the help of built-in infrared emitters, without the participation of water or steam, the body is heated to a depth of up to 4 cm. A temperature of 39 ° C kills most pathogenic microbes. Humidity is natural.

Czech beer baths

Czech - a bath that has existed for no more than a dozen years, in which a person takes a 37 ° C bath of beer mixed with mineral water (1 to 1) for 15 minutes. You don't have to rinse immediately after leaving the bathroom.

Man has taken his love for purity beyond the boundaries of the Earth. The peculiarity of the "bath" in space, on the ISS is that in conditions of weightlessness it is difficult to control the behavior of even a glass of water. But with small amounts of it, surface tension causes water to “stick” to the body, which is what astronauts use, applying a small layer of water to the body and rubbing it with a towel, using a special “indelible” soap that simply absorbs into the skin.

Conclusion

Whatever the baths of the peoples of the world, Russian or Turkish, dry or wet, the main thing is that it benefits the body and is pleasant to the soul. In the bath, a person must find harmony, communicating simultaneously with all the elements: water, fire, air and earth. Easy steam for you!

Sauna for walruses, thermal baths in Baden-Baden, Budapest baths at thermal springs, Rzhev steam room and other baths around the world that are worth warming up. On different stages of its history and in various places of its habitat, mankind has discovered approximately the same ways of unhurried, but very effective rejuvenation, healing and at the same time just relaxing. The main components of such a recipe are steam and hot water. Seasonings are very different: birch and other brooms, massage, scrub, whipped soap suds and other additions that vary from region to region. For those who feel like a new person after a steam room, Forbes magazine has compiled a list of the most remarkable baths on the planet.

Bani Gellert (Budapest, Hungary)

Where: H-1118 Budapest, Kelenhegyi út 4 There are 118 thermal springs in Budapest. The ancient Romans soared in them, and in the 16th century, together with the Turks, the first hammams appeared here. But the glory of the European capital of steam was brought to the city by the majestic bath complexes built already at the beginning of the 20th century. And the most famous of them is Gellert, a masterpiece of Budapest Art Nouveau, which opened in 1918 at the foot of the hill of the same name on the banks of the Danube. The porter at the entrance, marble columns, tall arched vaults, stained-glass windows in the lobby, mosaics in the baths and steam rooms - all the signs of great style are evident here: it’s not for nothing that they say about Gellert that when you swim in his pool, it seems that you are taking a bath in the cathedral. On the lower level there is a hammam with eucalyptus steam, a sauna with an old clock and three baths - with cold, warm and hot water. Here, for a fee, you can order massages, mud baths and other medical procedures. One floor above - the same "cathedral" pool with a retractable roof, the appearance of which is reminiscent of Roman baths: it is surrounded by a two-tiered colonnade with a gallery at the top around the perimeter. In the 1930s, during the reign of Admiral Horthy, the best balls in the city were thrown here: the pool was covered with a glass floor, and the orchestra was located on the gallery. Now there are only palm trees in tubs and cafes where you can drink a cup of coffee with Unicum balm or just a glass of Tokay. And you can go out into the courtyard, where there is another pool - with an artificial wave, stone cascading terraces and a pavilion decorated with majolica, worthy of the best palace parks in Europe. Cost of visiting: from 3600 (weekdays) to 3900 (weekends) forints (€13-15) More details: www.gellertbath.com

Rauhaniemi (Tampere, Finland)

Where: Rauhaniementie 24 Tampere is home to Finland's oldest sauna, built in 1906 by Rajaportin. But the younger Rauhaniemi sauna (it appeared in 1929) is much more popular - and not only among the locals: this place is called the best walrus sauna in Finland. Rauhaniemi stands on the shore of a large beautiful lake Näsijärvi, and in winter heated paths lead from the sauna to its shore, ending in a spacious opening into which a staircase with a railing descends. In the polynya (water temperature is from two to four degrees), pot-bellied Finns and portly Finns, as well as rare and timid foreigners of different builds, snort and grunt. Then, all together, they sedately go to warm up, and for this purpose there are actually two saunas in Rauhaniemi (the largest one - it is also the hottest one - can accommodate 70 people). After steaming well, red-bodied people slowly return to the polynya - and so on three or four times. Before leaving the sauna, it is considered good manners to ask: “Heychankyo leulyuya?” - not to add, that is, a couple? And if everyone says “Heita vaan” or simply “Külla”, then you need to splash some water on the hot stones. By the way, in summer the quality of steam is no worse, you can even sunbathe on the beach, and next to the stairs leading to the former wormwood, you will see a two-meter diving tower. Admission fee: €4.5 More details: www.rauhaniemi.net

Daikoku-Yu (Tokyo, Japan)

Where: 32-6 Senju Kotobuki-cho, Adachi-ku Traditional Japanese public bathhouses called sento use hot water baths to sit, sweat and relax instead of steam rooms. Tokyo's Daikoku-Yu bathhouse, which has been operating since 1927, is called the king of sento. In the nineties, it was subjected to a large-scale reconstruction, which mostly affected the internal structure: from the outside, the bathhouse still looks exactly the same as it did eighty years ago, and rather resembles a Buddhist temple. Daikoku-Yu is open from three in the afternoon until midnight, and inside there is sterile cleanliness and a snail's calm and slowness. Behind the dressing room with small cells for clothes, scales and massage chairs - a room with a view of Fuji in the entire wall, taps with water and three baths, moreover, massage ones. In the hot water temperature is 42 degrees, but there is also a cold, 15-degree. In the patio, under the roof, there is a roten-buro - this is the name of the outdoor bath. It has the same 42 degrees, and around it there is a small garden with a traditional stone lamp: contemplation also helps to relax and forget about the vain. Usually, people with tattoos are not allowed into sento, but in Daikoku-Yu it is quite possible to sit in the bath next to a yakuza covered in patterns from head to toe. In the bath, however, they are very good-natured. Admission fee: ¥430 (approximately $5.4)

Sauna Deco (Amsterdam, Holland)

Where: Herengracht 115, 1015 BE Surprisingly, leading role the fate of a small sauna in the center of Amsterdam was played by an old Parisian department store. When in the 1970s the owners of the famous Le Bon Marche store decided to update the interior, designed in the 1920s according to the sketches of the recognized Art Deco architect Louis-Hippolyte Boileau, a huge number of decorative details were simply dismantled. The agile Dutch acquired them, giving their bath the appropriate name. A wooden staircase with a bronze-cast balustrade, along which Parisians hurried to go shopping, now leads to the second floor of the sauna in the relaxation room, a glass elevator shaft separates the pool from the rest of the premises, and the gilded stained-glass windows in the lounge and pool used to be lanterns on the roof of a department store. Now, completely naked and wrapped in towels, people of both sexes roam these luxurious Parisian interiors: like most Dutch baths, Sauna Deco is mixed, and bathing suits are not allowed here. After visiting two saunas with different temperatures and a hammam with eucalyptus steam, you can go to the pool with hydromassage, relax in the tiny garden in the courtyard, and then head to the lounge to look at photos of the same department store: it turns out to be a pyramidal luminous object on the floor, which is crowned with a vase of flowers , used to be a chandelier in the trading floor. Another reason to visit Sauna Deco is the best massage therapists in Amsterdam, who must be booked in advance. In addition, the local beauty salon makes wraps and facials with seaweed, which are specially brought from Brittany. Admission fee: €21 Read more: www.saunadeco.nl

Gedik Pasha (Istanbul, Türkiye)

Where: Hamam Cad. no. 65 - 67 Gedikpaşa, Beyazit Hammam Gedik Pasha, which is located next to the Beyazit Mosque and the Grand Bazaar, is one of the oldest in Istanbul: it was built under Mehmed the Conqueror in 1475. Most guidebooks write that only local residents go to it, however, it may happen that the locals will just be in the minority in the bathhouse, but there will be many tourists who have read guidebooks. Tourists, as a rule, leave here not too satisfied and deceived in their expectations: the attendants are lazy, and the massage is weak. But in fact, this is one of the best hammams in the city, and tips help greatly improve your impression of it. In the hall with a marble fountain, peshtemals are given out - either towels or sheets, without which it is not customary to be in the hammam. In the center of the main hall, which is called hararet, there is a large marble elevation, gebektashi, that is, the “stone of the belly”. This stone is hot, and bathhouse attendants place clients on it and do massage-peeling with a hard mitt (it relieves the skin of a layer of dead cells), and they also wrap it in foam from head to toe and knead the body properly (in the women’s department of the bathhouse attendant, at the same time, and sing long songs). In Hararet, by the way, it is not too hot, because it is customary here not to bathe, but rather to languish, from time to time diving into a cool pool. However, there is also a small sauna in the hammam. Admission fee: 50 Turkish lira, or approximately $30 (massage included) More details: www.gedikpasahamami.com

Sandunovsky baths (Moscow, Russia)

Where: st. Neglinnaya, 14, pp. 3-7 The most famous Moscow baths were founded, oddly enough, by an actor: Sila Nikolaevich Sandunov served as a comedian in the Imperial Theater, but he approached his business project seriously. Having sold, as the legend says, a diamond necklace given by Catherine II for the wedding to his wife, he bought plots on the banks of the Neglinka River, which was not yet hidden in a pipe, and in 1808 opened stone baths. Subsequently, the Sanduny changed owners many times, and by the end of the century they became very dilapidated, so the next owners - millionaire Vera Firsanova and her husband, guards lieutenant Alexei Ganetsky - decided to build a new bathhouse in the same place. The complex of buildings, designed by the architect Freidenberg, is a masterpiece of eclecticism: through the pompous neo-baroque arch of the main facade, the “Moorish” arch in the courtyard is visible, and in the interiors with marble columns, stucco and gilding, you can find everything from Gothic to Art Nouveau. The clientele of Sandunov, reopened in 1896, was not inferior in its diversity to the interiors: ordinary people bathed for 5 and 10 kopecks, and serious merchants rested in a luxurious department for fifty kopecks per person: with a hairdresser, a fireplace and separate rooms for 5 and 10 rubles. The system of "ranks" has been preserved to this day: in modern Sanduny there are five departments - three for men and two for women, but all the main beauties are a "Gothic" hall with wooden carvings, a "Turkish" hall with ceiling paintings and stucco molding, and a pool with an Ionic colonnade, where Eisenstein filmed episode of "Battleship Potemkin", are open only to visitors of the highest male category. However, the famous Sandunovsky steam, about which Chaliapin said that he "frees" the voice, is still available to everyone - as well as the services of bath attendants-steamers who work here in dynasties. Cost of visiting: 1500-1800 rubles More details: www.sanduny.ru

Kotiharju (Helsinki, Finland)

Where: Harjutorinkatu 1, 00500 Half a century ago, there were about a hundred and twenty public saunas in Helsinki, but now there is nothing left (Finns now prefer to arrange private baths in the basements of high-rise buildings or even in apartments). And only one works on firewood at all - Kotiharju, located in the Kallio working-class district, which, in Finnish, is now slowly going through the process of gentrification. This sauna (a family business, by the way, owned by the couple Risto and Merja Holopainen) was built in 1928, and in 1999 it was thoroughly reconstructed - moreover, with the help of the Helsinki Culture Capital Foundation: in commemoration of the fact that 2000 Helsinki became the cultural capital of Europe. There are one and a half tons of stones in the heater there, and in order to warm up the sauna, it takes a cubic meter of firewood and five to six hours of time. To add a couple or not, according to tradition, those who sit on the top, hottest benches decide. Regulars from neighboring quarters, students, creative intelligentsia - and, of course, tourists go here. To cool off, excited visitors, wrapped in towels, go straight out into the street - they drink beer and sing songs in chorus in front of passers-by, who, if not singing along, then listen attentively. They also do great massages. Cost of visit: €10, subscription for 10 visits - €90; Birch broom- €5 More: www.kotiharjunsauna.fi

Dragon Hill Spa (Seoul, Korea)

Where: Yongsan Gu, Hangang-ro Dong 40-713 Korean steam does not tolerate fuss, and whole families come to the local baths - jimjilbang - not only to take a steam bath, but also to eat, take a nap and chat. In Dragon Hill Spa in Seoul, entrance tickets are sold immediately for 12 hours - this is a real bathing Disneyland, on seven floors of which, in addition to steam rooms and pools, there are restaurants, cafes, a fitness club, a cinema and even a golf course. At the entrance, visitors are given a uniform (shorts and T-shirts), which will be needed when visiting mixed zones, and special electronic bracelets, where information about all purchases made is entered - from drinks to massages. In separate male and female areas there are wet steam rooms and various baths: with sea water, with ginseng, with fragrant herbs, as well as mud, hydromassage and cold baths. After water procedures, it is worth going to the famous Korean peeling: with the help of a special viscose glove, a layer of dead cells is scraped off from visitors, and the skin becomes soft, like a baby's. The mixed zone has a huge tatami lounge where you can even stay overnight if you want (after all, many jimjilbangs are open 24/7 and are a cheap alternative to hotels). Nearby are several rooms designed as medieval palace halls: tourists love to take pictures in them. But the main feature of the Dragon Hill Spa is the original dry steam rooms: one is heated with pine wood, another is finished with cypress, the third is with jade, the fourth floor is covered with heated salt crystals, there is also a steam room with yellow clay and an ice room with a real snowman. Admission fee: 10,000-12,000 won (about €8) More information: www.dragonhillspa.co.kr

Orbeliani (Tbilisi, Georgia)

Where: Abanotubani, st. Joseph Grishashvili Tbilisi owes its appearance and its name to sulfur springs. According to legend, King Vakhtang Gorgasali shot a deer in the Kura valley, but he fell to a hot spring, healed and was like that - and Vakhtang ordered that a city called Tbilisi be founded on that very place (from the word "tbili" - "warm"). Later, a whole area of ​​sulfur baths appeared on the sources - Abanotubani, which still exists: the baths themselves are underground, but only their large domes with turrets at the top are visible on the surface. The most famous institution is the Orbeliani bath (after the name of the former owner), she is also Blue, or Motley, looks like a mosque - with a lancet facade, two small minarets and decorated with blue-blue tiles. It is believed (and this legend is zealously supported) that Pushkin visited her third issue during his trip to Arzrum, and on the wall of the bath there is a sign with his quote: “I have never seen anything more luxurious than Tiflis baths in my life.” The noseless attendant Gassan then worked on Alexander Sergeevich: he broke his limbs, pulled out his joints and beat him hard with his fist, while the poet felt not pain, but amazing relief. Now you won’t meet noseless mekise (as bath attendants are called), but they still do an excellent massage on a marble trestle bed, then, like Pushkin, they rub it with a kiss - a coarse woolen mitten, removing an unnecessary layer of dead skin, and then lather it with weightless foam - and wash it off from a completely different, new person. Cost of visiting: from 5 GEL (approximately €2)

Thermal baths Friedrichsbad (Baden-Baden, Germany)

Where: Römerplatz 1, D-76530 The majestic building in the spirit of the Renaissance palazzo was built in Baden-Baden in 1869-1877 by the architect Karl Dernfeld - on the personal order of the Grand Duke of Baden Frederick I, who dreamed of reviving the culture of the ancient Roman baths that existed on this site 2000 years ago. The façade of Friedrichsbad is decorated with statues of Asclepius and Hygieia, and the interior partly repeats the layout of Roman baths, with male and female wings of steam rooms and baths and a round pool in the central rotunda with a marble colonnade. There is a gallery with healing drinking waters, but the main thing is, of course, the baths themselves, in which, in full accordance with the ancient dress code, bathing suits are prohibited. On Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, women and men bathe separately and meet only in the thermal pool, on the rest of the days all the premises of Friedrichsbad are open to both sexes. The local baths are often called Roman-Irish: an exotic hybrid owes its birth to the Irish doctor Richard Barter, an active promoter of hydrotherapy, who supplemented dry Roman steam with wet Turkish steam and insisted on combining steam rooms and baths of different temperatures in one chain. The current bathing ritual in Friedrichsbad is based on his method and consists of 17 stages. It all starts with dry steam rooms (54 and 68 degrees), followed by a soapy massage, then wet steam rooms, which are not so hot anymore, and finally, thermal hydromassage pools, each of which is a little colder than the previous one. After the water procedures, guests enter the relaxation room: the attendants carefully wrap them in sheets and blankets, lay them on the bed and ask when to wake them up. Falling asleep, many recall the words of Mark Twain, who, having visited Friedrichsbad, said: “In ten minutes here you forget about time, and after twenty - about everything in the world.” Admission fee: €21 (for 3 hours), with soap massage - €31 (3.5 hours) More info: www.roemisch-irisches-bad.de

Xiao Nan Guo Tang He Yuan (Shanghai, China)

Where: F2, Xiao Nan Guo Restaurant, No.3337, Hongmei Road Built in 2002, the five-story building next to the famous Shanghai restaurant Xiao Nan Guo can’t be called a bathhouse - this is an amazing hybrid of a spa center and an entertainment complex with an area of ​​12,000 square meters: a thousand people can relax here at the same time. Guests are greeted by a lobby worthy of a five-star hotel: a marble reception desk, luxurious chandeliers and music - it is performed by a mechanical piano, the keys of which move by themselves. Female guests are given blue Hawaiian muumuu dresses instead of bath sheets, male guests are given short green pajamas with shorts, and children, respectively, are mini versions of one or the other: whole families go here. Helpful people from Japan, Hong Kong and Thailand work here, who do dozens of massages, rejuvenating body scrubs (every square centimeter of skin is treated with hard mittens - except, of course, the most delicate places) and all kinds of face masks, as well as fifty other spas. procedures. Of the actual bathing options, there are, for example, a variety of baths (including milk and Japanese ofuro), steam and low-temperature saunas (in the women's section - with a large TV, which plays local soap operas), as well as swimming pools. And after the procedures - or even in between - you can play mahjong or ping-pong, sing karaoke or have a bite: there are several cafes with good dim sums, noodles - and more sophisticated offers. Cost of attendance: 58 yuan, massages - from 48 yuan (approximately $ 7.5-9) More details: www.xnggroup.com

Liquidrom (Berlin, Germany)

Where: Möckernstrasse 10, 10963 Opened in 2005 in the German capital, Liquiddrome is a real sauna of the 21st century and, perhaps, the only place on earth where, while soaking in the pool after a steam room, you can listen to a DJ set. The minimalist interiors are dominated by natural grey-green stone and concrete; the only exceptions are steam rooms decorated with wood, of which there are four: a wet, Finnish sauna, a salt cave and a panoramic sauna with a glazed wall, finished with dead Karelian pine. Once an hour in the Finnish sauna, one of the signature treatments is done free of charge: a light salt, honey or aromatic massage. For lovers of serious massages - such as Balinese herbal bags or Thai hot stones - there is a spa nearby. After the steam room and treatments, guests go to the outdoor terrace, finished with wood, to take a nap in the sun loungers or lie in a small warm bath, also lined with wood in the Japanese manner. But the main attraction of "Liquidrom" is located inside, under a concrete dome - a large round pool with sea water. There is always twilight here, colored lights and music, and the speakers are installed under water, so when you dive, it seems as if you are wearing headphones with loud music playing. In the evenings, DJs perform here, and on Fridays, candles are placed around the perimeter of the pool and live concerts are arranged in a variety of genres - from classical strings to jazz and electronics. Cost of visit: 2 hours - €19.5; 4 hours - €24.5 Read more: www.liquidrom-berlin.de

Rzhev baths (Moscow, Russia)

Where: Banny pr., 3, p. 1 The Rzhev baths have been operating uninterruptedly in the capital for more than 120 years - in 1888 they were opened in Korzunovsky Lane (now Banny Proyezd) by a merchant of the second guild Ivan Malyshev. Later, they turned from Malyshevsky to Krestovsky, and the current name was assigned to the bathhouse during the war - military units were washed in it, sent to the front from the nearby Rzhevsky (now Riga) station. Morals here have always been democratic - the main contingent even before the revolution were people of simple rank, small merchants and students. The interiors, respectively, are not outstanding, although recently there was a major overhaul, after which VIP rooms and a sauna appeared. But this is not what people go to the Rzhev Baths for - lovers and connoisseurs of a real Russian bath come to Banny Proyezd from all over the city for the sake of a traditional steam room - here it is a real ritual. Steam is prepared every half an hour: water is poured into the stove-heater in groups, the walls of the steam room are sprinkled with infusions of chamomile and wormwood, and only then people are let inside. According to the old Moscow tradition, they lie in the steam room right on the floor (the steam is so burning that many enter on all fours), the steamer (there are several of them here, each has its own day and its own audience, which comes on that day) becomes the center, asks for silence and begins to perform the ritual: “scooping up” the steam from above with a broom or a towel, he “douses” it in turn on all the people lying on the floor. Having plunged after such steam into a cold font in the soap department, you feel absolute bliss - in the most accurate sense of the word. Cost of visiting: 800 rubles (on weekends - 850 rubles) More: //rzhevskie-bani.ru

Onsen Funaoka (Kyoto, Japan)

Where: 82-1 Murasakino Minamifunaoka-cho, Kita-ku Onsen means hot spring in Japanese; the same word is also used for baths using warm mineral water. Funaoka is a historical bath: it opened in Kyoto back in 1923, and the original interiors are perfectly preserved to this day. True, unlike Sanduns or Istanbul hammams, the bath area here, like in most traditional Japanese sento baths, is modestly decorated, but the dressing room is a real museum. The walls here are decorated with painted tiles and carved Japanese cedar bas-reliefs representing battle scenes of the Taisho period (1912-1926), and the ceiling sheathed in wood is decorated with a colored high relief depicting Tengu: this mythological monster with wings and a huge nose not only frightens travelers in the mountains with thunderous laughter but also loves cleanliness. On the wooden bridge from here you can go to the bathing area, where the usual faucets, basins and showers are located, as well as several baths with hot water (45-50 degrees), where it is customary to soak after thoroughly washing. In Funaoka, in addition to ofuro with mineral water and healing Chinese herbs, there is also an "electric bath" denkiburo: a weak electric current passes between two metal plates-electrodes mounted in its walls - the Japanese believe that such a procedure strengthens muscles and stimulates blood circulation. Nearby there is also a sauna with a TV, and with it - a cold bath with a tap in the form of a lion's mouth. But the most meditative ofuro is in the courtyard: here you can take hot bath overlooking the carp pond and rock garden. Admission fee: ¥410 (approximately $5.2)