Budapest historic bath may reopen soon

The time has finally come to revitalise the Rác Bath in Budapest. It has been almost two decades since the bath had stood around empty and at last, the renovation project was published. Let’s celebrate by looking back at the generous history of the building!

Humble beginnings

The Rác Bath’s original base building was made by the Turks back when they ruled Buda. They rather enjoyed a good soak. When they took Buda in 1541, they stayed for a good 150 years and made themselves feel at home real quick. An easy way for them to do this was to build baths. Especially since the Buda region is outstandingly rich in thermal waters.

Rác Bath was one of these Turk bathhouses. The octagonal building was built in 1572 and topped with a dainty dome. Connected to this was a smaller area also topped with a dome, giving the building the iconic Turkish look. Luckily, the bathhouse survived the 1868 year intact, which is when the Hungarians took Buda back with a ferocious siege.

An Ybl revitalisation

In 1860, the bathhouse ended up being owned by János Nepomuk, who took matters into his own hands, sparing no costs. He hired Miklós Ybl, one of the most famous Hungarian architects of all time, to renovate the bath.

Most of his buildings were built in the romantic style, then later in the neo-Renaissance. The renovation of the bath was exactly between the two periods, which means that it carries elements of both styles, making it that much more special. The actual renovation was accomplished in two phases. During the first one, the already existing areas were modernised and they added two more dome halls. One of them was a women’s bath, the other had various new warm pools. The second phase happened between 1869 and 1870, during which period they built another octagonal dome-covered area with another new pool.

The first phase carries elements from Ybl’s typical earlier romantic style. The romantic dome hall is totally in harmony with the Eastern motives that remained from the Turkish age. Ybl adapted to the original building, since the already existing base also had domes and a central layout.

In contrast, the main facade is recognisable as neo-Baroque and quite symmetric, although there are two smaller changes in the risalits. On the left and right sides, the decorations vary by gender. On the left, where the women’s baths are, the ground floor window is crowned by a female head, while on the right, there’s a male head. The ground floor is also decorated with striping, and above are typically baroque accentuations, such as rich stuccoes and mansard roofs.

The Rác Bath was renovated here and there very moderately through the decades, but no bigger changes were made to the building. During the Second World War, the bathhouse was dealt serious damage. In the renovation project of the sixties, these issues were not fixed, and if it’s possible, they were only made worse. The majestic work of Ybl began to fade from memory and the walls of the bathhouse. The Rác Bath deteriorated into such an awful state by 2002 that it had to be closed, writes PestBuda.

A modern revitalisation

Luckily, in 2007, Tamás Dévényi, the well-known heritage architect, got on the case of restoring it to its former glory. He balanced the work of the great Ybl with slight modifications of his own to better the experience of the visitors. Now, they could enter an intimate garden and get a glimpse of the majestic dome. He worked on the Rác Bath for 4 years and his final work was awarded with an ICOMOS.

Sadly, due to legal fights over ownership rights, the doors of the freshly renovated and awarded bathhouse never opened. As the years went on by, it was robbed multiple times, got damaged by the elements and even got flooded three times.

After the legal disputes were settled in 2021, the bath returned to public ownership. The story now starts anew: in the October of 2023, a public procurement was posted for the restoration of the bathhouse. It seems a comprehensive work already; the interior is heavily damaged, the electrical wires are outdated and the exterior is also heavily in need of a retouch after a decade of negligence. However, if everything falls into place, we can enjoy the Turkish delight of bathing in the Rác Bath by 2025.

• Read about more Hungarian spas HERE.
• Read about more historical renovations HERE.