Budapest’s thermal baths are more than just beautiful places in which to swim. They have been fundamental to the city’s development and continue to shape Budapest’s social life, while their varied architecture and usage encapsulate the city’s storied history.
Clouds of steam rise from the water, the air thick with the aroma of sulfur. Through the haze, groups of tourists marvel at the majestic Neo-Renaissance and Baroque Revival architecture, while bathing regulars relax and ‘take the waters’ or settle down for a game of chess. There’s a chill in the air, but the waters are so warm that it hardly matters.
The distinctive yellow facade of this impressive bathing complex, which dates from 1913, lends a sense of luxury and grandeur, transporting visitors to a Budapest of times past.
While they’re most famous for their stunning locations, healing waters, and relaxing environment, Budapest’s thermal baths are home to a tradition that has been happening ever since they first appeared.
Chess boards can be found in almost every thermal bath in Budapest and locals gather on a regular basis to challenge each other to a match or two while relaxing in the thermal waters. Baths were a way of life for centuries and still, it’s common to spend a little extra time catching up over a friendly game of chess.
Amid the steam and groups of visitors, a seemingly unusual sight may catch your eye. Combining two quintessentially Hungarian pastimes, local bathers relax on the steps of the pools, playin
g chess on floating boards.
Strange (and even slightly whimsical) to those unacquainted, it is a common sight at Budapest’s baths – places where the city’s residents (particularly of an older generation) meet to relax, socialize and enjoy the healing benefits of the thermal waters.
Spending time at Budapest’s baths, including Széchenyi, photographer Chris Baker has captured bathers engaging in this practice of ‘aqua chess’. While chess was popularised during the Communist era, it endures to this day as something of a national sport. In 2013, Hungarian grandmaster Judit Polgár succeeded in adding chess to the national curriculum, highlighting the game’s importance.
Today, the playing of aqua chess against the backdrop of the baths’ historical architecture – whether it be the Ottoman Rudas and Király baths or the Neo-Renaissance and Neo-Baroque features of Széchenyi – serves as a poignant encapsulation of centuries of history.
With the popularity of the thermal baths as meeting places and the popularity of chess as a whole, it is little surprise that the two have been combined.
“Playing chess is part of bathing in Budapest,” explains Dóra Kiss, head of marketing at Budapest Spas. Indeed, a visit to the thermal baths is, for many, more than just an opportunity to relax in warm waters. It’s also a social occasion – a chance to enjoy a moment of calm and a game with friends.
The idea of bathhouses as social hubs dates back thousands of years to the Roman times, and the beginning of the story of Hungarian bathing culture. Upon arrival on the banks of the River Danube, the Romans were – in part, at least – inspired to colonize the area thanks to the abundant thermal springs found there.
They created their regional capital city of Aquincum, where northern Budapest now stands, around these springs and built large public bathhouses to cater to their growing population. Beyond more general ‘wellness’, there are the acute medicinal benefits offered by a vis
it to the baths.
The waters that flow from the thermal springs at each bath are said to offer individual benefits. For example, some baths are better for joint problems, while others help with the symptoms of respiratory conditions such as asthma. As a testament to this, bathhouses offer medicinal treatments alongside those aimed purely at relaxation, with some only available by prescription.
As well as providing a boost to health, Budapest’s baths are reflective of the city’s storied history, each one telling a different tale. The mix of cultures that have played a role in Budapest’s past can be seen in each bath’s distinctive architecture, with Turkish baths alongside those built during the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The city has seen its fair share of unrest and upheaval, and its baths stand as a testament to various points in its chequered past.
Budapest’s thermal baths have recently become host to a different kind of social gathering: bath parties. Reflective also of the city’s vibrant and ever-evolving nightlife scene, these ‘parties’ combine old-world architecture and local bath culture with a hedonistic party atmosphere. This development offers yet another example of Budap
est’s baths mirroring a change in the city’s culture, acting as dynamic microcosms of history.
