SK, Trencianske Teplice – Unique Spa Town III
This symbol of the city is located in the second half of the pedestrian zone. Thanks to Oriental Moor architectonic style it doesn't fit to surrounding buildings. The entrance is on the side side. There is a corridor which gets you to a waiting room with beautiful wooden ceiling above. Every visitors is required to take on shoe covers. Somebody from the staff then takes you to the an assigned leisure space. There you wrap yourselves into a sheet and move to Sina spa. Its water reaches 39 degrees Celsius. Healing springs spring righti nto the pool. After 20 minutes your bath is done and you go to the historic leisure room of Hammam. There you lay down, cover yourselves with blankets and enjoy the healing process in beautiful environment.
You need to book a procedure in advance. Should you have other interests than having a bath you can pay for a guided toor of the historic leisure room which takes place once a week and costs a really small amount of money.
We were lucky for we managed to the guided tour. During it we learned that Hammam was a bath spa for rich clientele such as nobles or financier in the past. The then oqner of the spa – Ifigénie de Castries d'Harcourt ordered its construction. She drew inspiration from Turkish spa while she was at the World Exhibition in Paris. She asked Egyptian vice-King Izmaila for a permission to build something of the like in Trencianske Teplice. He allowed and sent his court architect to help with the construciton. The building was finished in 1888. There was nothing like it in Europe.
The most distinct feature of the building are three glass domes through which light comes through. Two side round stained glass windows are another unusual Christian feature. Among dominant and interesting features belonging to this structure is also a sandstone handrail made of one piece of stone. Walls are decorated by white&blue wall tiles which brought here from Modra and Pécs, Hungary. This amazing almost fairy-tale beauty will be feast for your eyes.
During your tour you can take a sip from the fountain in the middle of the room, take a peak into massage chamber, and walk on beautiful Arabic carpets. The end of the schedule is devoted to a belly dance performance which adds to the overall oriental atmosphere.
After we bathed and enjoyed the tour we moved on to the spa park. There is a nice leisurely walk which ends at Kursalon. This strucutre is former spa vestibule where is a concert hall, cafe, terrace, a reading room, and a theatre hall. The building has not changed its purpose since its construction. You can enjoy a good cup of coffee there or have lunch. The Artfilm movie festival takes place here regularly. Also, the oldest chamber music festival in central Europe takes place here as well as conferences and other types of events.
In the near vicinity you can find the new Most Slavy bridge and other landmakrs which add to the spa park, which we visit next week.
GPS: 48°54'32.4"N 18°10'22.0"E
Text and photos: Oskár Mažgút
Překlad: Stanislava Waniová
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