THE HISTORY OF SPAS AND HOT TUBS
The word SPA originates from the Latin phrase ‘Salus Per Aqua’ which means ‘health (healing) through water’. The word SPA became synonymous in the English language from the Belgian town of Spa, which was previously known by the Romans as 'Aquae Spadanae'.
The origin of Spas is mostly attributed to the Romans, but Spas have much older origins! Ancient Egypt is considered the birthplace of the first spas, providing the first documentation that a bathing culture existed, the healing powers of Nile Delta was well known, the waters being fed from the high mountain ranges of Ethiopia. In the middle east bathing in the Dead Sea was also very well known for its therapeutic properties.
But the earliest known Spas were in Egypt about 2000BC, with the first Hot Tub being chiseled out of solid granite for King Phraortes about 600BC, which is believed to be a caldera in which sizzling stones were placed in the water to heat it. Spas were later adopted by the Greeks and then by the Romans. But certainly the Romans can be attributed with building the most architecturally and technically advanced spa bathing houses throughout their empire, with many examples of the famous European spa towns such as Bath (England), Spa (Belgium) and Baden (Germany).
In around 40BC the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra travelled to the Dead Sea and built a spa in its spring fed waters, due to its high concentration of salts and minerals, the therapeutics effects were well known. You could say that Cleopatra was the real pioneer of the Spa industry. One of the mosts common spa chemicals; Bromine, is stil extracted there today for worldwide export. Cleopatra is famed for her love of bathing to preserve her legendary beauty.
In Greek mythodolgy, about 1700BC, the King of Crete built the exquisite palace of Knossos, within the palace, large hot tubs were built, which became infameous due to the fact that the King of Crete was purportedly to have been killed whilst in the tub, by the daughter of the King of Agrigentum; Cocalus, who poured boiling water over him.
In the UK, about 836BC, the British King Bladud discovered a natural hot spring, bathing in the muddy hot spring apparently cured him and his pigs from leprosy, this was probably the first mention of the word Bath in history, and consequently the town in England UK was named after it. The later Roman Spas were built upon this same spring.
In Greece, from around 480BC, the Greeks had numerous and elaborate public spas that were used for social activities, the early spas were near natural hot water springs, usually close to volcanoes. The great Greek philosophers including Hippocrates, Homer and Plato wrote that the therapeutic benefits of hot water was well understood. Hippocrates (460-375BC), who is believed to be the founder of medicine, recommended hydrotherapy for the treatment of various disorders including rheumatism and jaundice.
The Roman Empire provides the best examples of hot spring spas, which some still exist to this day, Bath in England UK for example. The Romans enjoyed and used Spas extensively and built them throughout their empire. In Rome about 25BC the Emperor Agrippa constructed an Imperial Spa, Sauna, Library and Halls. Subsequent Roman Emporers built even more extravagant facilities to outdo Agrippa accomplishment. In 213AD The Emperor Caracalla, who believed the hot springs of Baden Baden in Germany cured his arthritis and consequently he had built one of the finest bathing houses outside of Rome. The German word Baden means to 'to bath / bathe.
In Japan, around 737AD, the first recorded hot spring spas known as Onsen opened to the public near Izumo. Due to the geology in Japan, natural hot springs are very numerous but each are distinguished by the type of minerals dissolved in the water. Many of the spas now belong to traditional Japanese Ryokan hotels. Sentōs are indoor public bath houses where the baths are filled with heated tap water. Japanese families have used hot tubs for centuries, called ofuros, these are freestanding wooden tubs.
In Finland, around 1000AD spas and saunas made their first appearance. Saunas were founded by Finland and many different types of them exists today.
During the Ottoman Empire around 1556AD the Hamam hot baths of Roxelana opened in Istanbul. The Hamamas or Turkish baths became very popular for social and political meetings. The traditional Hamams have religious origins with a requisite visit preceding a visit to a Mosque. The older Hamams have equisite examples of traditional Muslim ceramic mosaic art. Outside of Turkey there are also fine existing examples of Hamams in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
In the USA in the 1850s, spas started to become popular, most notably the New York's Saratoga Springs, with such famous names as Franklin D. Roosevelt and poet Edgar Allen Poe frequenting the facilities. The first modern US resort spa was called Rancho La Puerto near Baja, created by Deborah Szeckly in 1940.
In Budapest’s around 1918, the Gellert Baths opened and made the city the Spa capital of Europe. Gellert with it’s amazing Art Nouveau architecture and Turkish inspired thermal pools becomes the premier spa, even though Budapest had more than 100 baths and pools.
In 1954, Joe Jacuzzi and his brothers developed and patented a whirlpool type pump which they later developed and refined, their objective was simply to utilise hydrotherapy to ease the pain of a family member's rheumatoid arthritis. Their swirling air injected water mix could turn virtually any water tub into a therapeutic portable spa.
In the 1960s, fibreglass material was increasingly being used to build hot tub shells. The fibreglass being coated with a smooth non-porous gelcoat finish.
In the 1970s, Roy Jacuzzi invented the first commercially available home indoor spa and then his Whirlpool spa. Baja Products developed vacuum formed acrylic hot tub shells which were reinforced with fiberglass. It was not long after this that this combination of acrylic with fibreglass reinforcement became the standard method of hot tub construction in the industry.
With the combination of Acrylic shells reinforced by fibreglass, coupled with Jacuzzi pumps, hot tub spas quickly became even more poplular in the US.
The next development was the introduction by Len Gordon of controls to the hot tub spa, temperature, circulation, jet action and air mix.
By 1980, electronic computerised controls were being developed and incorporated into hot tub spas. But in 1994 Balboa Instruments, a Californian electronic design and development company created an electronic control mechanism using solid state technology designed specifically for hot tub spa installations. These Balboa controls were soon incorporated in the leading hot tub manufacturers products.
During the 1990s, many five star Hotels started adding hot water spas to their list of amenities.
