Hévíz Spa

Coordinates: 46°47′10″N 17°11′28″E / 46.7860867°N 17.19116°E / 46.7860867; 17.19116

Hévíz Spa and the Szent András Hospital, Hévíz (St. Andrew's State Hospital for Rheumatology and Rehabilitation) is a spa in Hungary. It is located in Hévíz, on the shores of the lake of the same name.

The story of Hévíz Spa

The complex balneological treatment used in Hévíz has been developed through the centuries as a unique kind of medical care. It is based on three principles:

The curative effect of the lake was probably known to the ancient Romans. Coins found in the lake in the early 1980s also support this supposition. Discoveries from the age of Migration suggest that the migrant German and Slavic population used the lake as well. Written sources more than 400 years old originate from the age of Ottoman occupation. Hévíz derives from the word "havuz", Turkish for pool.

First part

The Festetics family realised the curative effect of the lake and started its development as a spa. The lake and its surroundings became the family's property in the middle of the 18th century. Earl György (I.) Festetics (between 1795 and 1797) built a thermal wooden bathing house on a float over the outflow as a start. The first doctors mainly carried out venesections. After the earl's death in 1819 the development of Hévíz stopped. 1 March 1868, György (II.)...