The history of the Russian bath (7 photos). The history of the bath: from hoary antiquity to innovations of the 21st century

The history of the bath goes back to ancient times. On the basis of archaeological and historical data on the history of the emergence and spread of the bath, it can be argued that this was a “multifocal” process. People learned to use natural phenomena for their own benefit, they learned the properties of fire, water and stone. This was the prerequisite for the emergence of modern baths. Naturally, the spread of the bath is associated with the peculiarities of the migration factors of mankind, which transferred its experience, habits, and way of life to new areas of habitat. Already from the names themselves, the origin of the baths can be seen, for example: Finnish bath (sauna), Russian bath, Roman baths, temescal, kamaburo and igiguro, Japanese dry stone bath, etc.

So, Egyptians already about 6 thousand years ago, great importance was attached to the purity of the body and baths were used everywhere. Egyptian priests washed themselves four times during the day: twice during the day and twice at night. Since everywhere there were beautifully arranged baths available to everyone, public baths were at first stone or clay baths or pools filled and emptied with copper drain pipes, and hot water was not used for washing.

Over time, the Egyptian baths received the original device, which was later used by the Romans, and later adopted and improved by the Byzantines. Flaming hearths were installed in the basement, and on the upper tier there were stone beds, heated from below by hot air through special holes. In the steam room there was also a pool with cool water, where the city dwellers took a subsequent bath.

During the excavations of the ancient Egyptian city, archaeologists discovered the remains of an ancient bath. This bath consisted of two floors. On the upper floor there were large stones - stove benches heated from the lower floor. Visitors to the bath lay down on these stones, and the bath workers rubbed their bodies with healing ointments and massaged them. There was a hole in the stone couch through which steam from the lower floor passed. In Egypt, inhalation in baths was quite widely used. They used a mixture of water and beeswax as soap.

On the second floor in the middle there was a contrast pool, there were also rooms for gymnastics and a room - a clinic with medical instruments. A spillway was installed in the floor of the bath, connected to the general drain of the city. This drainage also served as the central heating of the ancient Egyptian city.

Adherence to the bath and massage, moderation in food allowed the Egyptians to maintain a slender figure and helped to successfully fight premature aging. Egyptian doctors of that time were considered the best in the world, and their art in the treatment of various diseases almost did not do without water procedures, that is, without a bath.

For 1.5 thousand years BC, the bath was widely used for hygienic and therapeutic purposes. in India. The ancient physicians of Tibet had their own medical practice of hydrotherapy, which brought together the best experience of Chinese and Indian doctors. Basically, the treatment of most diseases was reduced to a variety of compresses and the use of baths.

It is believed that for the first time steam baths and massage were simultaneously combined in India more than two thousand years ago. The traveler Petit-Radel described this procedure as follows: “A certain amount of water is splashed on hot iron plates. As it evaporates, it fills the space and envelops the naked body of a person in the room. When the body is well moistened (steamed), it is stretched out on the floor, and two servants, one on each side, press the limbs with varying force, the muscles which are extremely relaxed, then the chest and stomach. Then the person is turned over, and a similar pressure is applied from the back. All this lasted, according to the traveler, a good three-quarters of an hour, after which the person did not recognize himself at all - as if he had been born again.

In Ancient Greece The first baths were called Laconicum because they were built by the Lacedaemonians. The baths were round in shape, in the middle of the room there was an open hearth that heated the room. Also in the room were a pool and baths. There was no drain, so we had to scoop water from the pool and from the baths.

Alexander the Great after his campaign against Egypt, returning to Greece, ordered the construction of the same baths as in Egypt. Under him, oriental-type baths with the same hot floors spread in ancient Greece.

Baths in ancient Greece were also hospitals in which people got rid of their ailments and were available to everyone, including the poor.

Gradually, the Greek baths improved, became more comfortable and richer. There were baths only for noble people of society. They were built and lined with expensive materials and, for a sense of luxury, they were decorated with precious metals and stones.

Enjoyed special love and popularity baths of the ancient romans. The cult of the bath literally existed here. Even when greeting at a meeting, the Romans, instead of greeting, could ask: “How are you sweating?” The Romans simply could not imagine life without a bath. “Bath, love and joy, we are together until old age,” such an inscription has survived to this day on the wall of one ancient building.

The rulers of Rome did not spare any funds for the construction of baths. The most expensive materials were imported, architects excelled in their art. Often in their luxury, baths surpassed palaces. Baths were decorated with entire systems of waterfalls and fountains, sculptural compositions, marble columns, hanging gardens, swing baths, wall paintings. Basins and dishes in the Roman bath were made of silver and gold. The Romans were naked in the bath. Only women covered their hair and pearl jewelry, as they deteriorated from the hot air.

In the bath, the Romans not only washed, but also talked, drew, read poetry, sang, and arranged feasts. At the baths there were massage rooms, areas for physical exercises and sports, libraries. There were many fountains, baths and pools. The bath complex was equipped with a heating system that both heated the water and heated the floor. Wealthy Romans visited the bath twice a day.

Both private and public Roman baths (terms) were distinguished by exceptional luxury - precious marble pools, silver and gold washstands. By the end of the 1st century BC e. in Rome, 150 public baths were built with a capacity of up to 2500 people!

It is curious to note that the rooms for sweating were warmed up in the same way as in modern Russian baths and Finnish saunas: in the corner there was a brazier, on a bronze grate there were stones over hot coals. There were also rooms with dry and wet steam.

In ancient Rome, baths were also valued as a remedy for many diseases. In particular, the outstanding Roman physician Asclepiades (128-56 BC) was even nicknamed the “bather” for his commitment to bath hydrotherapy. Asklepiad believed that cleanliness of the body, moderate gymnastics, sweating in the bath, massage, diet and walks in the fresh air were necessary to cure the patient. “The most important thing,” Asclepiad argued, “is to capture the attention of the patient, destroy his blues, restore healthy ideas and an optimistic attitude to life.” It was the bath that created such sensations in the patient.

Already in those days, the Romans used contrast douche, i.e., alternate immersion in hot and cold water.

When Pompeii was excavated, the remains of a not very large bath were discovered. The bath also had many rooms. In front of the entrance to the bath there was a playground, gymnastic exercises or just a park for recreation. The first room inside the bath was elongated, decorated with mosaic floors, walls - with stucco, many sculptures and mosaics. It was a locker room (apodyterium), on the walls there were shelves for things and clothes of visitors. After the locker room there was a room with a blue domed ceiling and walls covered with paintings depicting flora and fauna. There were two pools in this room - one with hot and one with cold water. The visitor should have had the impression that he was in a fairy garden.

From the locker room there was also an entrance to the steam room with dry steam, where the stove was located. And from the next room with pools, there was also a passage to another steam room (caldaria), where they steamed with wet steam. Ventilation was provided by opening windows. There were also baths, showers in the form of a fountain, and many basins for washing. Water from the ceiling was diverted through the grooves into the general sewer. Doors and windows were made of bronze.

A central heating system with heated walls and floors was developed. With the help of the furnace, air and water were heated, which then circulated in the cavities of the walls and floor. A double coating was used so that the front surface was not very hot. The entire complex was heated by burning oil.

Not far from the steam room there was a room for cleaning the skin and for massage. The skin was cleaned with special scrapers made of wood or ivory. The Romans washed themselves with soap made from goat fat and ash, as well as fine sand delivered from the banks of the Nile. Bath workers performed all the necessary operations - from massage to shaving.

The water was supplied to the thermal baths by a water pipe. Up to a million liters of water could go to the needs of the baths per day. Very small baths were heated with firewood, which was pre-treated and did not smoke.

Heiress of Rome Byzantium also did not sit without a bath. After the fall of the Roman Empire in 476, over the next two centuries, the baths of the Romans throughout Europe fell into complete decline. Most were destroyed by semi-savage and ignorant peoples, only a few of them survived. The terms existed much longer in the eastern part of the former Roman Empire - Byzantine.

Even in the trade agreement with Russia, a bath was mentioned. In the early Byzantine cities there were baths everywhere, and in such large centers as Constantinople and Antioch, there were a great many of them. However, over time, the bath in Byzantium ceased to be the center of public life, as it was the case in ancient Rome. The old baths seemed too luxurious and were converted into Christian churches.

The capital's baths consisted of several rooms that were heated. They supplied hot water. The provincial baths had a very wretched appearance and were heated "blackly". “Smoke goes into the room,” wrote the monk Michael Choniates, “such a wind blows through the cracks that the local bishop always bathes in a hat so as not to catch a cold.” Small bathhouses were built at the monasteries. It is difficult to say how often they bathed in them: the monastic charters contained different instructions (from twice a month to several times a year, and sometimes “from Easter to Easter”). At the same time, the bathhouse remained a place of healing: doctors prescribed a bathhouse for the sick 1-2 times a week (depending on the disease).

It was in Byzantium, in the city of Pergamon, which is today in Turkey, that the famous Roman physician Galen practiced - an enthusiast and a big fan of the term.

Under the influence of many cultures and everyday habits, technologies and religious beliefs of different peoples, the Roman bath in the East was transformed into a phenomenon no less distinctive and culturally almost more significant and remarkable - an oriental bath, or hammam.

The Arabs of the Arabian Peninsula, closely communicating with the Byzantines, adopted some traditions from them. Even before the advent of Islam, frequent washing was quite traditional for the peoples of the East. This is a natural necessity in a hot climate. However, the Arabs at the same time only doused themselves with cold water, but their acquaintance with the luxurious traditions of Roman bathing, which happened during the conquest of the Levant by the Arabs, brought them the first of the wonders of the bath - hot steam. The Arabs learned how to bathe, but they did not stop pouring cold water on them.

The fact is that immersion in a bath, pool or other container of water seemed unnatural to the Arabs: according to their religious beliefs, this is "bathing in one's own mud." And only with the advent of Islam did the development of such an original phenomenon as an oriental bath begin. The Prophet Muhammad experienced the action of the Roman-type baths and highly appreciated them. He also pointed out that baths help increase fertility. According to Islam, this goal is sacred to every true believer. Therefore, the approval of the prophet opened a wide road for the hamam to the Islamic world.

The fall of the Roman Empire coincided in time with the flourishing of Islamic culture, and in particular with the emergence and rapid development of oriental bath, or hammam which has survived to this day. Like the Roman baths, the hammam very soon became the center of social life. The construction of a hammam was considered a charitable deed worthy of the respect of others. “Whoever has committed many sins, let him build a bathhouse to wash them away,” said the famous Arab writer Yusuf Abdalhadi. If a new hammam was opened, the herald spread the news throughout the city, and the first three days the visit to the hammam was free.

The owner of the Turkish bath - Minder - rose to meet each visitor, even the last poor man. He walked towards him, opening his raised hands, greeted him as a long-awaited guest whom he had not seen for a long time. Although I saw it quite recently, because every free person went to the bathhouse a little less often than to the mosque. And some every day. Married women from wealthy families loved the hammam even more. Only here they gained complete freedom, were delivered from unfair suspicions on the part of jealous husbands, who let their wives go to the bathhouse not only without fear, but even with the greatest willingness.

A visit to the Turkish bath in those days looked something like this: after smoking a pipe and drinking coffee, the visitor began to sweat, and the servant led him towards pleasures. The Romans would have called the friendly reception hall of the Turkish bath apoditerium. It was followed by the tepidarium in the ancient baths, where they are already beginning to take water procedures.

In the Turkish bath, this section is called soukluk, in which there were wooden benches with soft beds, each time covered with fresh sheets. Like the Roman baths, it is much warmer than the undressing room, but still not as hot. It's hot in the next room. But only there everything is arranged differently than in the premises of the Roman baths: the Muslim religion requires shyness. First of all, in the soukluk, neither the street nor the vast expanses are visible from the windows, and the sunlight on the finest day barely penetrates the premises. The rays enter through small windows in the dome. This architectural detail - the dome - may be the most important in the eastern hammam. The main bathing hall is also darkish and also with a dome at the top.

It had alcoves, a kind of office for the privileged. Alcoves were of two types. There are eight alcoves of the first type, and everything in them is a little better than in the common room. There are two containers for water - kurnas; polished bronze faucets with hot and cold water sparkle like gold. There are six more well-appointed offices. Each has its own small pool with marble walls and blue water, so transparent that you can see the playing pattern on the marble slabs. However, the most important place in the hall is in the center. There is a smooth octagonal stage. From it, as from a stage, you can see the entire hall with a marble floor. Sociable people were attracted by this place - chebek-tashi.

The oriental bath procedure still consists of five main actions: warming up the body,
energetic massage, cleansing the skin with a mitten, lathering and dousing with water and the final stage - relaxation.

The bath massage technique in the Arab East had features that were different from the ancient traditions. The most important thing here was not the therapeutic effect of the massage procedure, but its ability to deliver exquisite bodily pleasures. The bathhouse was one of the main centers of public entertainment; bath attendants often engaged in elementary prostitution here. According to the testimony of the Austrian doctor Guarinonius, “they themselves, naked naked, they only did what they rubbed, crushed and aroused to voluptuousness.”

On the territory of Georgia since ancient times, baths were built near hot springs, thanks to which they had natural steam. The attraction of Tbilisi (Tiflis) has always been sulfur thermal baths and every guest of Tbilisi tried to visit them. Once A.S. Pushkin visited such a bath and then described them in detail. “I have never seen anything more luxurious than the Tiflis baths either in Russia or in Turkey.”

Baths had a domed roof, through which soft light entered the room. The pools are lined with marble, the baths were in grottoes, which were lit by torches. Water from hot springs in the mountains flowed through ceramic pipes and filled pools and baths.

Local residents brought their guests to the bathhouse, held noisy holidays there, sang songs. Baths in those days worked around the clock and people often spent the whole day there.

As far as we know, the Tbilisi sulfur thermal baths have been restored according to old traditions and are successfully used for relaxation and treatment, while at the same time attracting tourists.

Steam baths in China have their own specifics. To begin with, the client steamed, and then special bath attendants wiped him off the dirt with disposable special disposable washcloths without soap (!). "It hurts, but it's useful!" thought those who tried it. However, soap is used in modern Chinese baths. Wooden slippers are put on in the bath so that the feet do not burn on the tiled floor, but in China they know how to bathe.

Japanese bath- furo has a peculiar history. In Japan, according to Buddhist laws, the manufacture of soap was forbidden (as it was necessary to kill animals for this) and people got used to washing with hot water. In addition, Japan has a damp climate and in winter, people visited baths with hot water several times a week.

The Japanese used their kama-buro sweat baths with good results for various injuries, skin diseases, stomach disorders, arthritis and rheumatism. Ishi-buro, which has been known for the last 10 centuries, had a similar effect. Not far from Nagasaki, rules for the use of this type of bath were found, including contraindications. The bath could not be used by persons with venereal diseases, epilepsy, leprosy. Here they began carefully, within 3-4 days, to carry out acupuncture treatment. It is recommended to use the bath once every 10 days. It was forbidden to eat, drink, make noise, urinate, perform sexual acts. The bath made it possible to maintain personal hygiene, had a preventive value and had a therapeutic effect on 7 skin diseases.

Eskimos of Alaska It was believed that sweat baths have not only hygienic, but also healing properties for many diseases, including muscle pathology.

Indian tribes In Central America, the ancient Mayan temescal steam baths were used not only for hygiene, but also for medicinal purposes for rheumatic, skin and other diseases. Temescal is recommended by doctors and is currently used, while extracts from plants and other ingredients are used, which, when evaporated, give a therapeutic effect.

Excavations in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe nationality Mayan testify to the fact that the inhabitants of Central America had a sweat bath, as evidenced by the remains of their dwellings, which are more than 2000 years old. The Spaniards, who came to this area in the 16th century, observed from the Aztecs a culture of taking sweat baths called "temescal", which they borrowed from their Mayan ancestors (teme - in Aztec bath, calli - house).

Among the nomadic tribes living in the central and eastern regions Africa, there were ritual and religious rites associated with the use of hot air and steam baths. They were also used for medicinal purposes.

The most detailed description of the properties, features and significance of steam baths in people's lives was compiled in the 5th century BC. Herodotus of Halicarnassus, the famous ancient Greek historian. It was from his works that we learned about the baths of Babylon, Crete, Syria.

The oldest written mention of bath at the Scythians is also the testimony of Herodotus, who in 450 BC described the habit of the Scythian-Sarmatian tribes occupying the territory of modern Ukraine, to wash in a tent, in the center of which there were heated stones, on which hemp seeds were thrown.

Steam bath in Russia(soap, movnya, mov, vlaznya) was already known among the Slavs in the 5th-6th centuries. Everyone used the bathhouse: both princes, and noble people, and ordinary people. In addition to its purely functional purpose, the bathhouse played an important role in various rituals. For example, a bath was considered necessary on the eve of the wedding and on the next day of the wedding, and visiting the bath was accompanied by a special ceremony.

Many foreign travelers and scientists wrote about the baths of the Slavs and Russians

The Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea, who lived in the 5th century AD, writes that the bath accompanied the ancient Slavs all their lives: they were washed here on their birthday, before the wedding and ... after death.

“And they don’t have baths, but they build a house of wood and caulk its cracks with greenish moss. water, which is poured over a red-hot hearth, and then hot steam rises. And in the hands of each is a bunch of dry branches, which, waving around the body, set the air in motion, attracting it to itself ... And then the pores on their body open and flow with there are rivers of sweat, and on their faces - joy and a smile, "- this is how one Arab traveler and scientist wrote about the ancient Slavs.

The bath is mentioned by the Arab traveler Ibn Zeta, or Ibn Rusta, (912), who saw on the territory of modern Bulgaria primitive dwellings made of earth with a gabled roof, heated by red-hot stones, which were poured over with water, while people took off their clothes. Entire families lived in such structures until the onset of spring. They can be considered the prototype of the bath. There is also a mention of the bath in the annals of Nestor (1056), where the Apostle Andrew describes his journey in 907 years through Northern Russia and a visit to the Mordovians, a branch of the Finno-Ugric group of tribes; who then lived near Novgorod.

In the year 906 from the birth of Christ, the glorious campaign of Prince Oleg against Tsargrad (Constantinople) ended. Russia concluded an agreement on a trade union with Byzantium, in which, among other things, a bath was mentioned. The fact is that Russian merchants began to arrive in Byzantium. Many of them lived for long periods in Constantinople, which at that time was an open and cosmopolitan city. A Russian community was also formed, which occupied an entire quarter in Constantinople. Therefore, the agreement with Byzantium specifically states the requirement: to provide Russian merchants not only with food, drink and lodging for the night, but also with the opportunity to go to the bathhouse as much as they want.

Nestor describes an episode that took place in 945. As is known from many sources, Princess Olga of Kyiv took revenge on the Drevlyans three times for the murder of Prince Igor. One of the episodes of this story is connected with the bath. The ambassadors of the Drevlyans arrived at the princess to convey to her the offer of their leader to become his wife. Olga ordered that a bathhouse be heated for them, so that, according to custom, they could take a steam bath from the road. When they, suspecting nothing, began to wash, Olga's servants closed the bath from the outside and set it on fire.

Olearius (German scientist 1603-1671), who traveled to Muscovy and Persia in 1633-1639, wrote that the Russians firmly adhere to the custom of washing in a bathhouse ... and therefore in all cities and villages they have many public and private baths. Olearius, by the way, mentions that the Russians came to the conclusion that False Dmitry was a stranger because he did not like baths. “The Russians,” reports Olearii, “can endure intense heat, from which they turn everything red and become exhausted before that; that they are no longer able to stay in the bathhouse, they run out naked into the street, both men and women, and douse themselves with cold water; go to the bath again.

The construction of baths was allowed to anyone who had enough land. The decree of 1649 ordered "soap houses to be built in vegetable gardens and in hollow places not close to the choir." Home baths were heated only once a week, on Saturdays, and therefore Saturdays were considered bathing days and even government offices did not work on them. Usually, whole families bathed in home baths at the same time, men and women steamed together. However, in public (“commercial”) baths, people of all ages and sex also steamed and washed together, however, women on one side, men on the other. And only in 1743, by a Senate decree, c. "trade" baths for men to wash together with women and for the male sex over 7 years old to enter the women's bathhouse, and for the female sex of the same age - respectively, into the men's bathhouse.

As written in an ancient treatise, washing gives ten benefits: clarity of mind, freshness, vigor, health, strength, beauty, youth, purity, pleasant complexion and the attention of beautiful women. Note that the one who understands the steam bath, goes to the bathhouse not so much to wash, but to warm up and sweat.

Warming up leads to a beneficial change in the functional state of the organs and systems of the body, increased metabolism, promotes the development of protective and compensatory mechanisms. This is explained by the beneficial effects of heat and sweat on the cardiovascular, respiratory, thermoregulatory and endocrine systems in most people. Bath calms the nervous system, restores vigor, increases mental abilities.

Thermae and Roman spas in Western Europe long life was not prepared. The fall of the Roman Empire, the spread of Christianity marked the beginning of a new era. She was stern and gloomy. The Middle Ages threw scientific medical thought back several centuries. Ancient culture, science and natural science, the teachings of Hippocrates, Asklepiada, Galen turned out to be forgotten. Obscurantism eliminated not only the knowledge of hygiene, but also eradicated elementary disgust from the minds of people.

Water consumption per capita was reduced to the norm of drinking, while in the Roman Empire up to 700 liters of water were spent per day per person. Washing was generally absent from the daily routine. Clothes were worn without change seasonally, and sometimes all year round; in the cold period, several layers were put on. Linen was not washed and changed for years, it was worn until it completely decayed. The exposure of the body, even alone with oneself, was considered sinful. Medieval cities lacked sewerage and running water. Needless to say, the bath was completely excluded from everyday life. Sewage splashed right under the thresholds of houses. Epidemics and pestilence, low life expectancy, and high infant mortality have become the norm. Nightmarish epidemics of plague, cholera, dysentery, syphilis, smallpox devastated medieval Europe. A huge role in their spread was played by the overcrowding of the population in cities, the lack of basic hygiene rules.

Other countries of the world did not know such a rollback in the development of hygiene and, as a result, the bath business ... Scandinavians and Slavs in the north, the Muslim world in the south and east - all these peoples and countries continued to enjoy the bath. Central and Western Europe was isolated and rotten alive. However, the crusaders, who returned from Byzantium after the first crusade, brought their impressions of the eastern bath. Since the beginning of the 13th century, there have been timid attempts to organize something similar to it (most often in knight's castles) for personal use.

Speaking of Scandinavia. Aboriginal Finnish sauna is a tiny log cabin with no windows, with one small hole in the ceiling for smoke to escape. In the middle of the room was a stone hearth. The fire of the furnace heats the stones, while the smoke fills the room and is vented through a hole under the ceiling.

When the stones are sufficiently heated, the fire is extinguished and the logs of the sauna are washed from the inside from ashes and ashes, after which the door and the outlet under the ceiling are tightly closed. When the sauna stands a little, a vat of water and prepared brooms are brought inside, which are soaked, after which they begin to steam. At the beginning of the 20th century, not earlier than this sauna is spreading throughout Europe.

Initially, it is used for therapeutic and prophylactic purposes, then it is widely used by athletes for recovery and relaxation after training. The sauna is being improved more and more, more modern materials are used in its construction. Wood-fired stoves disappeared shortly after World War II, replaced by electric and gas heaters.

Let's get back in the Middle Ages - in Western Europe were also healed by hot springs. After the Crusades in the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries in Europe, baths began to be built according to the eastern principle. They were called Roman or Turkish. After some time, the baths were banned as obscene establishments. Most likely this was the reason for the spread of terrible epidemics of the Middle Ages. The traditions of hydrotherapy and the use of thermal springs gradually fell into decay. Roman baths, their traditions, significance and methods of healing were forgotten.

"People stank of sweat and unwashed clothes, their mouths stank of rotten teeth, their bellies stank of onion soup, and their bodies, if they weren't young enough, of old cheese, and sour milk, and oncological diseases. The rivers stank, the squares stank, churches stank, stank under bridges and in palaces. A peasant stank like a priest, an apprentice craftsman stank like a master's wife, all the nobility stank, and even the king stank like a wild animal."

The ancient name of the capital of France, Lutetia, is translated from Latin as "mud". A little later, the Romans called it the "city of the Parisians" (Civitas Parisiorum) and built baths, an amphitheater and an aqueduct there.

“Water baths insulate the body, but weaken the body and expand the pores, so they can cause illness and even death,” stated a fifteenth-century medical treatise. In the XV-XVI centuries. rich townspeople bathed once every six months, in the 17th-18th centuries. they stopped taking baths altogether. Sometimes water procedures were used only for medicinal purposes. They carefully prepared for the procedure and put an enema the day before. From such "cleanliness" epidemics began.

The French king Louis XIV bathed only twice in his life - and then on the advice of doctors. Washing brought the monarch into such horror that he swore never to take water procedures. The Queen of Spain, Isabella of Castile, washed herself only twice in her life - at birth and on her wedding day. The famous heartthrob, King Henry IV, washed only three times in his entire life. Of these, two times under duress.

The daughter of one of the French kings died of lice. Pope Clement V died of dysentery, and Clement VII, like King Philip II, died of scabies. The Duke of Norfolk refused to bathe, allegedly out of religious beliefs, and his body was covered with ulcers. Then the servants waited until his lordship got drunk dead drunk, and barely washed it.

Most of the aristocrats were saved from dirt with the help of a perfumed cloth, with which they wiped the body. Armpits and groin were recommended to moisten with rose water. Men wore bags of aromatic herbs between their shirt and vest. Ladies used exclusively aromatic powder.

Only in the Renaissance, when the development of culture, medicine and science was restored, did hydrotherapy regain its significance. However, due to epidemics of plague and cholera in Western Europe, hydrotherapy was an unsafe occupation.

However, the church continues to consider the bath sinful. There are new versions of the causes of epidemics. Some come down to the fact that the plague was sent down as a punishment for sinful infatuation, while others see in water procedures a harmful effect on the body and a source of malaise. The first bath was nevertheless built on the Seine in 1234. However, the terrible plague that broke out in the 14th century, which devastated European cities, removed the issue of the development of the bath from the agenda. She was excluded from the everyday life of a European for a very long time - until the beginning of the Renaissance.

The humanistic ideas of the Renaissance led to a renewed interest in the physical beauty of the human body, and with it, in water procedures. As we said above, healing springs, which are numerous in Europe, are gaining immense popularity in this era. Baths from healing waters were recommended as a cure for most diseases and simply as a tonic and rejuvenating agent. Baden-Baden, Karlsbad, Spa become the most visited resorts in Europe. In these places, discovered and developed by the Romans, on the ruins of Roman resorts, the construction of hotels and pensions begins, which can accommodate thousands of visitors. A trip to the waters becomes an indispensable attribute of social life. Baths and pools, the frivolous atmosphere of resort life lead almost to the revival of late Roman bathing traditions - orgies and a complete rejection of conventions.

And only in the XIX century the baths are reborn again. The importance of the healing properties of water increases again when using baths, baths and various water procedures.

Look what he wrote about Russian steam bath back in 1778, the Portuguese Sanchez was the doctor of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna (this treatise can be found in Moscow in the Lenin Library): “I do not hope that a doctor will be found who would not recognize a steam bath as useful. Everyone clearly sees how happy society would be if it had an easy, harmless and so effective way that it could not only maintain health, but heal or tame the diseases that so often happen. For my part, I consider only one Russian bath, properly prepared, to be capable of bringing such a great benefit to a person.

When I think about the multitude of medicines from pharmacies and from chemical laboratories, coming out and brought from all over the world, how many times I wanted to see that half or three-quarters of these buildings, built everywhere at great expense, would turn into Russian baths, for the benefit of society. And at the end of his life, having left Russia, Sanchez contributed to the opening of Russian steam baths in all the capitals of Europe.

The Englishman W. Toog, a member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, wrote in 1799 that the Russian bath prevents the development of many diseases, and believed that low morbidity, good bodily and mental health, as well as a long duration the lives of Russian people are explained by the positive influence of the Russian bath. By the way, from 1877 to 1911, about 30 dissertations were written on the therapeutic "impact of the Russian bath."

Easy steam for you!

Bath is an integral concept for a truly Russian person. It is difficult to imagine that once, in hoary antiquity, baths could not exist.

The bath has a beneficial effect on the skin and blood composition, improves digestion and gives a charge of vivacity.

But it’s true, such a brilliant human invention should have appeared somewhere and sometime. So who was the first lucky person to experience the beneficial effects of the bath?

The history of the creation of the bath

What is a bath? If by it we mean the very process of the effect of steam on a person, then the bath, as a concept, was still with an ancient person. It is likely that such a blissful pastime was characteristic of our most ancient ancestors. It is in the Stone Age that it is worth looking for the sources of bathing. True, then a much more modest concept was meant by a bathhouse, namely, hot stones from which steam emanated. Even then, a person felt that steam had a beneficial effect on his body, added strength, helped to relax faster and again go for prey.

There are several theories as to how a person discovered such beneficial properties of the bath. One of the legends says that the history of the bath began with the discovery of a hot spring. The heated stones exuded steam, which seemed very pleasant and invigorating. The second idea says that moisture got into the hearth in the man’s dwelling, and the stones from which it was built exuded steam that the man liked. But no matter which option turns out to be correct, one thing is clear - the healing properties of steam have been known for a very long time.

Egyptian history

Already in a more civilized and familiar form, baths appear in ancient Egypt. There, with their pleasant and beneficial effects, they get acquainted six thousand years before you and me. The priests and the upper classes of society attached incredible importance to the purity of the body. They bathed four times a day, twice this ritual was performed at night and twice during the day. Such a ritual was often carried out precisely with the use of baths, since in addition to cleanliness, the Egyptians revered massage, moderation in food, which together allowed them to preserve the youth of the soul and body. A massage after the bath was considered one of the most healing methods of healing. The then Egyptian medicine was recognized as one of the best, and doctors could not do without water procedures and tireless recommendations of steam and baths.

Ancient India and Greece

After the Egyptians, the desire for cleanliness and relaxation captured India (this happened about two thousand years before our era). Here baths were used both as an excellent remedy and as a source of personal hygiene.

Ancient Greece also did not bypass the healing effects of steam. Here baths originally appeared among the Spartans. They looked like round small buildings, in the middle of which there was an open hearth, where stones were heated, and a high temperature was maintained inside.

Roman cult of the bath

Baths in ancient Rome were especially fond of, here soaring turned into a real cult that captured everyone: from young to old, from rich to poor. It is in Rome that the division into private and public baths first appears.

Private baths served as an addition to luxurious palaces, rich Romans took a steam bath once a day, turning it into a real cult. The bath here was not limited solely to the presence of a steam room, there were extensive rooms for physical exercises, massage, and comfortable rest rooms. The Romans in the baths rested not only with the body, but also with the soul. Here they talked on philosophical topics, drew, wrote poetry, studied, feasted, loved and parted ... Separate libraries were even created at the baths. An inscription was found on one of the walls of the ancient bath: "Bath, love and joy - together until old age." This inscription is the best way to express the attitude of the Romans to the steam room. It was here that public baths appeared - baths, where ordinary citizens could go. A distinctive feature of the terms was luxury and beauty. There was marble everywhere, mosaics in the pools, silver and gold in decoration, precious metals of washstands. And all this is for mere mortals, not emperors and noble Romans.

By the end of the first century BC, more than 150 public baths were built in Ancient Rome, each of which could serve as a model of beauty and luxury. Roman baths had several compartments for sweating: with a traditional stove and stones on which water was poured (Russian bath), as well as steam rooms with dry hot air (sauna).

Baths in ancient Rome were not only a means of hygiene and a great way to spend time, they were considered an active means of combating almost all existing diseases. Asklepiad, a famous physician of that time, argued that the most important thing for recovery is moderate physical activity, cleanliness of the body, diet, walks and a good mood. It was the bath that gave almost half of the success in recovery, according to Asklepiad (for such an addiction to baths, he was nicknamed the "bather"). He was right, the terms really allowed the Romans to feel good and enjoy life to the fullest.

Russian bath through the prism of centuries

The history of the Russian bath begins in the 5th century. Even then, the bath was known throughout the territory of the Slavic lands, it was used by princes, and ordinary people, and rich merchants, no one neglected such a pleasure. Then the banya had many names, they called it soap, and movny, and vlazne (from where the Ukrainian name of the banya comes from - lazna), the bath was also called movyu. But, despite the different names, the functions of the bath were not only and not so much hygienic as ceremonial. So, before big holidays or a wedding, it was mandatory to visit the bathhouse. This trip to the steam room was accompanied by special rituals and traditions.

The Russian bath, as well as the whole rite of the steam room, aroused the interest of many travelers, for example, Olearius, a famous scientist and traveler, wrote a lot about the Russian tradition of bathing. The German watched with pleasure the process of soaring in the bathhouse and said that the Russian people hold on very tightly to the tradition of bathing in bathhouses. In almost every city, village and even village there were private and public baths, where everyone went: from young to old.

The process of washing with the eyes of a foreigner looked like this: people go into a heated room, where water is poured on the stones, and steam up to exhaustion. After that, they run out into the street and douse themselves with cold water, or roll in the snow, so that later they can return to the steam room again. Hot skin, red bodies and cheerful screams accompany this process, and the most incomprehensible thing is that everyone likes it. According to the traveler, it was False Dmitry’s dislike for the bathhouse that discovered a stranger in him.

Anyone who had enough land could build their own bathhouse, so family bathhouses were very popular in Russia. Each city dweller and rich villager built his own steam room, where the whole family gathered to take a steam bath, wash and relax. Private baths were heated on Saturdays. It was this day that was considered a bathing day and almost all families in full force went to bathe. Moreover, in home baths, they bathed and washed all together: men, women and children.

In addition to domestic baths, there were also public baths, the so-called "commercial" baths. Initially, these baths were also common, both men and women steamed there at the same time, enjoying the rest and the beneficial effect of the steam room. But after 1743, women's and men's steam rooms were separated, respectively, women were not allowed to enter the men's steam rooms, and men were not allowed to visit the women's sections of the bath.

In Russia, the bathhouse was radically different from its Roman predecessor, here bathhouses were built exclusively from wood, and not from marble. In addition, the Russian bath was not distinguished by special frills, it looked simple and modest. Everything was subordinated to the main goal of healing and recreation. In addition, there was only one steam room, where the temperature changed depending on the height, the higher the shelf, the hotter. Thus, space was saved, and the simplicity of the design made it possible for everyone to have a bathhouse.

In the villages, baths were built on the banks of rivers or lakes, so that you could plunge into the cool water directly from the steam room. To heat the bath, stoves were used, the heat from which went directly to the bath, heating the stones, on which water was then splashed. There were only two rooms in the bathhouse - the steam room itself, where the bathing process took place, as well as the dressing room, where they undressed, rested between visits to the bathhouse, and talked. Outwardly, the bathhouse looked like a small log house, no plans were drawn for its construction, but all the secrets of the bath business were kept in the head, passing on by inheritance.

Brooms were a feature of the Russian bath, bathing with brooms is a purely Russian tradition, unknown in any other country. A birch broom, thoroughly steamed and heated, created the effect of a massage, deep, warming and invigorating. Such an innovation in the bathing business has a great effect on the skin, improves blood circulation, and helps to warm up.

Baths in Russia were valued for their therapeutic effect, healing and stabbing of the body. Such useful properties were discovered in the X century. The bath was then first arranged in the Pechersk monastery, where the monks tested the effects of steam on themselves.

By the way, along with classical commercial and domestic wooden baths, stone baths were also built in Russia, which resembled ancient Roman baths in their design. For example, the first stone bath was built in 1090 in Pereyaslavl and enjoyed incredible popularity among the townspeople.

Another milestone in the popularity of Russian baths was set by Peter 1, who himself was an avid bather and popularized this useful activity in every possible way. During his reign in St. Petersburg, no tax was levied for the construction of any type of baths and steam rooms.

The Russian person had such a strong love for the bath that even in her absence, they tried to recreate the effect of a steam room. In the throat of the most ordinary stove, in which they cooked and heated the room, they put a board on which a person lay down. The throat of the stove was closed with a damper and a good bathing effect was obtained, and when water was poured on the walls of the stove, the aroma of hot bread poured inside. This method was also used for soaring the elderly, who found it difficult to visit a real bath.

Bathing traditions of medieval Europe

After the victory of Christianity over the paganism of the Roman Empire, bathing traditions in Europe died, most of the luxurious baths were converted into temples. And the very tradition of public washrooms came to naught. But almost dead Roman traditions were replaced by Turkish ones. The idea of ​​a hammam was brought from the Crusades and quickly became popular. By the middle of the 13th century, almost every city in Europe had its own steam room, a bit reminiscent of Turkish baths, slightly preserving the traditions of Roman baths.

In Scandinavia, bathing traditions developed in their own way and were subordinated to the local climate. Dry steam rooms, the so-called saunas, flourished here, which made it possible to warm up and at the same time perfectly temper the body, which was important in the climatic conditions of those places.

In the middle of the 13th century, general bathing in the baths of men and women was prohibited, but this did not provide for the construction of separate steam rooms, but assumed the division of days into men's and women's. But this did not prevent sprees from being carried out in the baths and the bath, despite the fact that many doctors were beaten in flashes, remained a place of secret meetings, drunken parties and other entertainments. It was during this period in Europe that a license was required to build a bathhouse. Such licenses could be bought, leased or inherited. From this moment on, the bathhouse becomes a profitable business, and the license holder can guarantee a comfortable existence by building a bathhouse, or by renting out the existing license. It is worth noting that the licenses were issued forever, respectively, the heirs could use it at their own discretion.

No less honorable at that time was the role of the bathhouse attendant, it could be either the owner of the bathhouse himself or a hired person. But very high demands were put forward for the attendant. It had to be a person over fifteen years of age, able to read and write, who knew arithmetic and had a certain knowledge of languages. The function of the attendant was to look after the fireboxes, baths, keep the bathhouse in order and dispose of all the personnel available in the bathhouse. The attendant was considered a master of all trades, he was willingly hired, he was respected by the townspeople, he earned very good money and knew many secrets that he used at his own discretion.

With the passage of time, the baths began to get a bad reputation, and the church also contributed to this. Baths have become a constant place of entertainment, a hotbed of many diseases and simply obscene occupation. For several decades, it was no longer possible to find a bathhouse in the capitals of Europe, and by 1900 there were none even in small towns. It was possible to find a real steam room only in the Alpine villages, the Baltic countries, Finland and the northern regions of Russia. It was here that the bathing culture was originally laid on the basis of the desire for health, relaxation and peace of mind. Here the baths retained their true meaning, long lost in Europe.

Sauna legend of Moscow - Sandunovskiye baths

Probably, in Moscow, and throughout Russia, one cannot find more famous baths than the Sandunov ones. Every Muscovite, almost every visitor, and, of course, every bath lover, regardless of where they live, heard about them.

Sanduny baths meet all hygienic standards and at the same time are real works of art.

Indeed, the Sandunov baths are a kind of symbol of the bathing art of Russia, they are not only the oldest steam rooms in Moscow that exist and flourish to this day, but also a real work of art, in compliance with all hygiene standards. They are often called "Tsar-baths", neither kings nor politicians neglected the luxury of the steam rooms of this institution.

The history of the Sanduny baths is quite interesting and remarkable. They appeared back in the 18th century, and the famous actor and servant of the court of Catherine II, Sila Nikolaevich Sandunov, gave their name to them. Mr. Sandunov had a wife who had a beautiful, simply angelic voice - Elizaveta Uranova. The empress herself was imbued with her talent and undertook to organize the life of the family in the most lively way, giving the singer of unheard-of beauty jewelry for a very decent amount. It was these jewels that became the starting capital of the family. Having sold them, Mr. Sandunov bought land on the banks of the Neglinnaya, the lands were then inexpensive and turned out to be a very good plot, to which he later added the plots of his neighbors, gradually buying out land along the river bank.

On the resulting territory, all buildings were demolished and real stone baths were built. This was a novelty for Russia, since earlier all the baths in the country were exclusively wooden, but the new structure attracted more and more attention. All sorts of factors were taken into account in the construction: from hygiene standards to fire safety. As a result, the bathhouses perfectly survived the fire of 1812 and existed for more than eighty years, changing more than one owner during this time, but retaining the name of the founder.

True, after changing several owners and falling into the hands of Mr. Ganetsky, the baths are sent for demolition, but with the aim of building even more luxurious steam rooms in the same place, which surpassed everything that exists in the bath business in their beauty. By that time, the river on which the baths stood was already hidden in an underground collector, which greatly simplifies construction and makes the sanitary conditions of the site even better.

By 1896, the bath project, grandiose in its scope, was almost completed, several buildings included at once a hotel, employees' apartments, several shops, and a huge variety of baths. There were cheaper steam rooms with comfortable conditions without frills, and luxurious baths, intended for the upper class. These steam rooms had everything from libraries and lounges to a luxurious swimming pool. The decoration was amazing, the interior decoration was reminiscent of the luxury of the baths of Rome. In addition to all this wealth, there were two types of steam rooms: the classic Russian bathhouse and the Irish version of the steam room.

In general, the Sandunovsky baths accommodated three types of steam rooms: 50 kopecks each - these were elite steam rooms with all amenities, a cheaper and more economical option - 20 kopecks each. And, finally, baths for the poor and ordinary citizens for 5 kopecks. The price, it should be noted, already included a free washcloth and a broom.

Quite flexible pricing policy and excellent location of the baths quickly made them popular among all segments of the population. But the price and convenience were not the only reasons for the popularity of the Sanduny baths. The peculiarity of these baths was the highest hygiene, even during their construction, absolutely all the requirements and rules of hygiene were taken into account, which at that time were scattered and acted separately. In the bath, absolutely everything can be washed and cleaned, from chair covers and curtains, to the floor, walls and ceiling. Due to such stability of materials, cleanings were carried out here almost daily, which led to an amazing result - in the entire history of almost no single case of diseases or epidemics, in any way connected with the Sanduny baths.

Water was delivered to the baths by a separate water supply from the Bobyegorsk dam, which guaranteed its purity. In addition, water was used for drinking from an artesian spring dug in the territory of the complex, about 750 feet deep. To maintain exemplary cleanliness, Wednesday and Friday were sanitary days, when everything, down to the smallest detail, was checked, cleaned and laundered. In addition, the well-established ventilation system made it possible to carry out quick and high-quality air purification, and electric lighting protected from the appearance of soot and burning.

Due to the quality of their construction and compliance with all sanitary standards, Sandunovskiye baths still remain one of the most popular places in Moscow, and, paradoxically, they are a symbol of Russian bathing traditions, although their design does not at all correspond to the original Russian ideas about a wooden bathhouse. with a small dressing room and a minimum of amenities.

It remains to be noted that the history of the baths is very many-sided and diverse. Each nation has its own history of the creation of steam rooms, their development and methods of application. Somewhere the concepts of baths intersected, mixed up, creating new symbioses, and getting into other corners, they acquired local beliefs and adapted. But at the same time, there are practically no peoples where bathing traditions would not exist at all.

It unites all the baths and the common beginning laid by the ancient man. And no matter how different the baths of the peoples of the world may be, whether they are baths, saunas, steam rooms or washing rooms, they all obey the same rule - to benefit a person, strengthen the body, improve health, restore strength and renew immunity.

Let's listen to the experience of our ancestors and discover all the charm of the healing effects of steam, the magical atmosphere of the steam room and the wonderful feeling of encouragement that envelops us after the bath procedure.

Accompanied by illusory visions.

It is believed that comfortable baths were built in the countries of the Ancient East - India, China, Egypt. In 17th century China there were “trade stone soaps with warm waters, and healers in them”. Scientists say that in ancient Greece, the doctor Hippocrates prescribed bath procedures for half of the patients. After the conquests of Alexander the Great in Ancient Greece, and then in Ancient Rome, oriental-type baths with hot floors spread.

Roman baths

In the Roman bath (therme) there were several rooms: the apoditerium, the pre-bath room, served for undressing. In the tepidarium, a warm room with a temperature of 37-40 °, there was the first pool. In the laconium (hot room) and callidarium (steam room), the temperature reached 60-85 °C. After the steam room was the frigidarium, a cooling-aromatic room with a cold pool. Massage procedures, rubbing with oils, dousing were carried out in the lavarium.

In large public baths, there was a central heating system with floor and wall heating - hypocaust ( hypocaustum). Baths contained not only massage rooms and common pools. There were also libraries and gymnasiums in large baths, since they were considered to be original centers of social life.

Bath and hygiene in medieval Europe

Due to the general decline of material culture, huge luxurious thermae, as in ancient Rome, Europeans did not have in the early Middle Ages. So, the terms of the city of Rome came to an end, when in the VI century. while besieging Rome, the Goths destroyed the Roman aqueducts, although a number of ancient Roman baths continued to operate in medieval Italy, such as those at Pozzuoli and Salerno. Large ancient baths were also preserved in Constantinople and other large cities of Byzantium. In some cities, for example, in the former Roman resort of Bath in Britain, the famous baths at natural springs continued to operate:

Britain is an island in the middle of the ocean, formerly called Albion. ... There are salty springs in this land, there are also hot ones, the water of which is used in hot baths, where they wash separately, according to sex and age [ ] ,

Written by a historian of the 8th century. At the beginning of the XII century, on the site of these terms John of Tours built public baths with church money.

In this kind of institution, they bathed in an individual wooden bath or in a common pool, but there were also special steam rooms, where the air was heated by hot stones, and the customers lay not in the water, but simply on the benches. From the ancient doctors, the medieval people inherited the idea of ​​​​the health benefits of the steam room; for example, Saint Hildegard of Bingen, who wrote in the XII century. works on medicine, advised in case of illness to drink decoctions of medicinal plants (parsley, thyme, chamomile, tansy, mint, lavender, rosemary, etc.) in the bath and at the same time apply them to hot stones and breathe this steam.

Massage brushes, natural sea sponges could be used as special bath accessories, even bath brooms are visible in some illustrations.

Home steam room: tub of hot water covered with sheets

And as for the rich houses, they had "soaps" in the basement; there was a steam room and tubs - usually wooden, with hoops stuffed like on barrels. An individual impromptu steam room was created at home by covering a half-filled bathtub or a barrel of hot water with several sheets on top.

Laws forbade the joint washing of men and women, and the premises of public baths were strictly divided into men's and women's, or special men's or women's days were introduced:

Let the men go to the bath together on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday; women go on Monday and Wednesday. … if a man enters a bathhouse or one of the bathhouses on a women’s day, he pays ten maravedis [ ] .

Like all medieval artisans, bathhouse attendants, who were engaged in massage, shaving, bloodletting and other procedures in the bathhouse, were united in a special workshop of bath attendants (barbers) with their own rules of work and a strict price list for services [ ] . The signs of the baths, as a rule, were large and bright, customers were invited to the bathhouse with loud shouts [ ] . Interestingly, medieval European bath attendants also worked as firefighters, as they always had a large supply of water and buckets. Also, city public baths were used not only for their intended purpose, they could turn into entertainment venues with music and booze, where they went to relax with a large company, or even sometimes into “saunas” with prostitutes and rooms for dates, despite all the legislative and church prohibitions on the existence of officially registered brothels. References to this are not uncommon in medieval fiction:

Ricciardo loves Filipello's wife Figinoli; having learned that she is jealous, he, having told her that Filippello made an appointment the next day in the bathhouse for his wife, arranges for the lady herself to go there ... .

Since the 16th century, public hot baths in the cities of Europe have become much smaller and the culture of public baths has declined [ ] . So, the English king Henry VIII ordered the London baths to be closed in Southwark in 1546, in Paris by the 17th century. only a few common baths remain. Among the reasons are the spread of venereal diseases (primarily syphilis), the activities of Protestant and Catholic preachers who denounced common baths as a hotbed of shamelessness, as well as an increase in wood prices in cities caused by a price revolution and the reduction of forests to charcoal in Europe due to development of metallurgy.

Baths in the Muslim world

Baths were also known among many other peoples, in particular, in Muslim cities there were places of special ritual ablutions prescribed by Sharia, and simply hot baths as places of rest. Such baths had steam rooms, places for massages and baths in running water, but Islamic traditions forbade bathing (long popular among Europeans) and swimming in pools, since stagnant, not running, water was considered unclean.

Bathhouse in Kievan Rus and Russia

Story

A two-chamber stone building in Pereyaslavl-Khmelnitsky (Kyiv region) with slate floors inlaid with mosaics, smalt cubes from wall mosaics, fragments of ceramic water pipes and a complete absence of fresco painting, is identified with the annalistic “bath building” of the episcopal palace mentioned under 1089 (1090). A building similar in purpose was found by archaeologists in Kyiv, on the territory of the Sophia Kyiv reserve. There were few stone baths in Russia, while wooden baths were called "fireplaces".

Other names of the bath: mov, soap, soap, movnitsa. In the Tale of Bygone Years (1110s) there is a story about a bath, put into the mouth of the Apostle Andrew:

“When Andrei taught in Sinop and arrived in Korsun, he learned that the mouth of the Dnieper was not far from Korsun, and he wanted to go to Rome, and sailed to the mouth of the Dnieper, and from there he went up the Dnieper. And it so happened that he came and stood under the mountains on the shore. And in the morning he got up and said to the disciples who were with him: “Do you see these mountains? On these mountains the grace of God will shine, there will be a great city, and God will raise up many churches.” And having ascended these mountains, he blessed them, and put up a cross, and prayed to God, and descended from this mountain, where Kyiv would later be, and went up the Dnieper. And he came to the Slavs, where Novgorod now stands, and saw the people living there - what is their custom and how they wash and whip, and was surprised at them. And he went to the country of the Varangians, and came to Rome, and told about how he taught and what he saw, and said:

“I saw a miracle in the Slavic land (approx. referring to Novgorod) on my way here. I saw wooden bathhouses, and they would heat them up strongly, and they would undress and be naked, and they would cover themselves with leather kvass, and young people would lift the rods on themselves and beat themselves, and they would finish themselves off so much that they would barely get out, barely alive, and would douse themselves with icy water, and that's the only way they'll come alive. And they do this all the time, they are not tormented by anyone, but they torment themselves, and then they make ablution for themselves, and not torment.

Those, hearing about it, were surprised; Andrey, having been in Rome, came to Sinop.

Also, Slavic baths are mentioned in the Persian manuscript "Collection of stories":

(Slavs) make dwellings underground, so that the cold that happens above does not get them. And he (Slav) ordered that they bring a lot of firewood, stones and coal, and these stones were thrown into the fire, and water was poured on them until steam went out and it became warm under the ground. And now they do the same in winter

Persian manuscript "Collection of stories"

The abundance of private and public (commercial) baths and bathing in the river or snow after the bath in Russia was mentioned by many European travelers of the 16th-17th centuries. : Giles Fletcher, Charles Carlyle, Johann-Georg Korb, Samuel Collins, Stanislav Nemoevsky and others. . For the Europeans of that era, Russian common baths gave the impression of obscenity and savagery due to the washing of men along with women:

There is evidence that in the era of Peter I, shy foreigners set up their own bathhouse in the German Quarter in Moscow, where men and women washed strictly separately. Another attempt to separate men and women in common baths was made by Catherine II in the Charter of the Deanery of 1782: only boys under 7 years old, bath attendants and doctors were allowed to enter the women's bath, but there is evidence that this ban was not always respected.

The most famous Russian baths are the Sandunovsky baths. Founded in 1808 as public baths, they continue to operate to this day. The buildings of the Sanduny baths are cultural monuments. In the pool of the highest male category, shots from the film "Battleship Potemkin" by Sergei Eisenstein were filmed. According to legend, they were worn by Napoleon, who entered the burning Moscow.

Black bath

Black-heated bathhouses are cut according to the five-wall principle, that is, they have a bathhouse and a dressing room separated by a chopped wall. The door to the bath itself, as a rule, is small and has a high threshold, which slows down the flow of cold air from the dressing room. All baths have an open hearth, which warms up not only the stones, but also the walls of the bath. The smoke from the hearth exits through a partially open door and an vent ("side" as it is a board pushed aside, and yet it is not an vent) in the ceiling. Usually it has a heater made of boulder pellets and a cauldron for hot water. It is heated with firewood, preferably hardwood (for example, birch). Such a bath, as they say, is “bitter”, that is, the air of the bath room has a bitter taste, and the mucous membrane of the eyes sometimes experiences quite strong irritation. The wood of the interior decoration of the bath is noticeably smoked from smoke, darkens in places to almost black. This is due to the fact that birch firewood, which is used for heating it, contains tar with hydrocarbons and phytoncides. Therefore, the atmosphere of such a bath has a pronounced bactericidal character. [ ]

Rural or country log cabin baths

High concentrations of tar volatiles can lead to irritation of the mucous surfaces, manifested in the appearance of a cough, and the eyes begin, as they say, to pinch. Therefore, to reduce this side effect, the concentration of volatile bactericidal substances in the atmosphere of the steam room is reduced. “Before use, it is necessary to ventilate from smoke and wash the shelves from soot.” There is a concept, “the bath must stand”, that is, after the end of the firebox, some time must pass. After the end of the firebox, boiling water is thrown onto the stones with a ladle, the door is opened and the “first steam” is released. Steam briefly increases the air pressure inside the steam room and brings out the excess of volatile bactericidal substances that irritate the eyes and breath. Sometimes the ceiling is swept with a broom, but with good firewood, soot practically does not settle on the walls. Also, fine river sand is used everywhere to clean the wooden surfaces of the bath in black (mainly the shelf). With the help of a rag and sand, soot is removed from the shelves, benches and walls, as well as a small layer of wood. After this procedure, the wooden surfaces are not only cleaned, but also smoothed, which protects the visitors of the bath from splinters, scratches, etc.

White bath

Baths heated "in white" come in various designs. In such a bath there is a stone, brick or metal incandescent furnace with stones laid in it (on it) to produce steam and with a tank (register) for heating water. Such a bath is easier and more pleasant to use. Modern individual baths also have this design.

Camping bath

Camping bath

Among modern tourists, a method of obtaining a bath is common, in many respects similar to the baths of the Scythians and the baths of the North American Indians. It is built during parking from poles, cutting down young trees, and on top they are covered with pre-prepared polyethylene. At the same time, the frame of the future camping bath is erected over masonry of large boulders, under which a fire is lit. The heating of the stones to the required condition takes several hours. When the stones are warm enough, the fire under them is carefully extinguished with water and only after that the frame is covered with polyethylene, usually fixing it with pieces of wire. After that, water is poured on hot stones and steam is obtained.

A significant disadvantage of this method of organizing a camping bath is the need for prolonged heating of the stones, which, moreover, are eventually covered with a layer of soot. When water is supplied to them, soot, together with steam, is sublimated into the air. At the same time, people inside can get quite dirty with it. Since the stones do not have a permanent source of heat that would compensate for the loss of thermal energy used to produce steam, with this method, the heat of the stones is enough for a limited period of time. Usually it's only 3-4 calls. [ ]

Types of bath

Finnish bath

Russian and Finnish baths have common roots and, despite the common misconception about the “dry steam room”, they do not fundamentally differ from each other. [ ] The traditional Finnish sauna, like the Russian bath, allows hot phytomassage with the help of birch brooms.

dry sauna

Dry (dry-air) sauna is not a traditional Finnish sauna (bath) that could be called a Finnish sauna with historical roots. This phenomenon arose relatively recently with the advent of electric heaters, where the heating of the stone laying occurs under the influence of electric heating elements. Dry air sauna is aimed at saving time during the bath procedure. [ ] As well as infrared cabins, electric saunas provide the user with the opportunity to quickly heat up the room without the use of flame sources, which require a chimney and appropriate fire protection measures for its installation, which is far from always feasible in urban high-rise buildings. Electric dry-air saunas are convenient because they can be mounted in almost any room where there is the necessary electrical network.

When the human body is heated, its pulse rises, the vessels in the upper skin expand. The human body begins to fight with the external influx of heat in order to maintain a constant internal temperature of the organs. The biological mechanisms of thermoregulation of the body are switched on, and this is inevitably accompanied by an increase in blood flow and increased respiration. As a result, the release of carbon dioxide, as one of the products of respiration, also increases. This causes the air conditions of a small enclosed space such as a sauna steam room to deteriorate rapidly. The percentage composition of the air mixture changes, which is expressed in the fact that people begin, as they say, to "suffocate". Headaches appear. [ ]

For comparison, baths and saunas equipped with wood-burning stoves that are heated from the steam room do not require the installation of active supply and exhaust ventilation. When the fuel burns inside the furnace, the flue gases expand as they heat up and, under the influence of the Archimedean force, “float” and are removed through the chimney. In this case, a vacuum is formed inside the combustion chamber, and, as a result, the wood-burning stove automatically draws air from the steam room through the ash drawer. For this reason, a zone of rarefaction of pressure is formed already inside the steam room, and a new portion is drawn into it under the influence of the pressure difference from the outside. Either through the leakiness of the doorway, or for the entry of fresh portions of air, a hole is specially made at the bottom of the front door. The same opening for fresh air can be provided in the wall or in the floor of the steam room. Wood-burning sauna stoves with a short fuel channel, where the wood is fired inside the steam room, are in demand in Northern Europe, for example in Finland. [ ]

Turkish sauna

The active principle in the Turkish bath is the marble of the room itself heated to 45-50 ° C and air with a humidity of up to 100%.

Japanese bath

Irish baths

Irish or Roman-Irish baths are modernized Roman baths. They are divided into three steam rooms. The first is the coldest (25-27 °C), the second is hot (32-35 °C), the third is the hottest (50-60 °C), lined with bricks with holes from which a lot of hot air flows. [ ]

Bath traditions and etiquette

Different peoples of the world have their own etiquette when visiting a bath. For example, in ancient Greece, they went to the bathhouse every other day, accompanied by slaves who carried oil, soda, greasy clay, linen, towels and brushes; a hot bath was taken in a round tub; followed by ablutions in cold water. According to popular beliefs, a bannik lives in the bath - the spirit of the bath. [ ]

Before the wedding, it was a tradition in the villages for the bride and the groom's mother to bathe together (and, possibly, together with other older women of the groom's family). She watched how healthy the future daughter-in-law was. One book mentions the review of the future mother-in-law: “It is wide in the bone. This one will give birth to three - she won’t grunt! [ ]

In the countryside, in the presence of a black hut furnace, the bathhouse was the only, most sterile and suitable place for childbirth. [ ]

Among the Slavic and Finno-Ugric peoples, the bath has traditionally been a place for quackery and witchcraft. Births took place in the baths, women in labor with newborns lived in the baths. In the baths, they tried to treat almost the entire spectrum of diseases with folk and witchcraft remedies. Baths were used as a place of burial or cremation of stillborn or dead babies. The baths also served as a kind of hospice for the seriously ill and dying. In the baths, the “healed” old people were killed and the objectionable or criminals were executed with the help of hot steam. The pagans, before sacrificing a person, “steamed” him to insensibility in the bath.

In art

The theme of the bath and everything connected with it has become widespread in works of art, from painting to folklore, in jokes and ditties. In particular, in Russian folk tales, the motif of the hero’s trip to the bathhouse is often found, usually associated with his weakening (Afanasiev, 207), or with the abduction of some vital attribute for him (Afanasiev, 187). Quite often, the motif of bathing in a bath is associated in Russian fairy tales with the motif of roasting and subsequent eating of the hero by his antagonist (Serpent Gorynych, Baba Yaga, sorcerer, etc.): cf. Afanasiev, 202-205. The connection of these motifs probably goes back to the folk practice of steaming in a Russian stove, or to the ritual washing of the victim during the sacrifice.

The setting of the baths is often used by artists to portray nudes: for example, Boris Kustodiev, Zinaida Serebryakova, Anders Zorn.

• One of the plays by Vladimir Mayakovsky is "Bath".
• One of the most famous songs of Vladimir Vysotsky is called “Bathhouse” (“Heat a bathhouse for me, hostess ...”).
• The story of Mikhail Zoshchenko "Bath".
• Vasily Shukshin's story "Alyosha Beskonvoyny" describes the process of heating the Russian bath "in black".
• The episode in the bathhouse, where Yevgeny Lukashin and his friends are drinking alcohol, serves as the plot of the plot in E. Ryazanov's film “The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath! ". The continuation of the film also uses a bath scene.
• Many works performed by Mikhail Evdokimov are connected with the bath.
• The bath is present as an important scene in the cycle of films by Alexander Rogozhkin "Peculiarities of the National Hunt", "Peculiarities of the National Fishing", "Peculiarities of the National Hunt in Winter".

Modern bath

Baths and saunas are widely used as a place of relaxation in a complex with swimming pools and gyms or as independent enterprises. The structure of a modern bath usually includes a dry-air sauna and a steam room (sometimes with several different conditions), a jacuzzi, a cold bath, often also a solarium, etc.

see also

Notes

1. Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages, volume 1. - Publishing house "Science". - 1974. - S. 151-152.
2. Borys W. Slownik etymologiczny języka polskiego. - Krakow: Wydawnictwo Literackie. - 2005. - S. 21.
3. Herodotus. IV // History in nine books. - M., 1999. - S. 73-76.
4. Statement of Chinese Land. - M.: Nauka, 1961. - (Countries and peoples of the East).
5. Silvana Barbati. Le Terme Puteolane e Salerno nei codici miniati di Pietro da Eboli. Luoghi ed immagini a confronto. - Napoli, 1995. - ISBN 88-85346-22-7.
6. Byzantine Dictionary / Compiled and ed. K.A. Filatov. - St. Petersburg. : Amphora, 2011. - T. 1. - S. 151-153 ..
7. Davenport P. Medieval Bath Uncovered. - Stroud: Tempus, 2002.
8. Bede The Hon. Book 1. I. Of the location of Britain and Ibernia, and of their original inhabitants// Church history of the people of the Angles = Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum / Per. V.V. Erlikhman. - St. Petersburg. : Aletheia., 2001. - ISBN 5893294297.
9. Marie-Anne Polo de Beaulieu. Baths and baths // Medieval France. - M. : Veche, 2014.
10. Brodel F. Chapter 4// Material civilization, economics and capitalism, XV-XVIII centuries = Civilization matérielle, économie et capitalisme, XVe-XVIIIe siècle. - M.: Ves Mir, 2007. - T. 1. - 592 p. - 2000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-7777-0332-3.
11. Did people in the Middle Ages take baths? - Medievalists.net (English), mediaevalists.net(April 13, 2013). Retrieved 5 July 2017.
12. Smith V. The Stews // Clean: A History of Personal Hygiene and Purity. - Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. -

For people leading a healthy lifestyle, going to the bath is one of the most important components of keeping the body in great shape. But not many people know that the Russian banya is strikingly different from similar establishments in other peoples of the world. Foreigners who have been in a steam room cannot calmly endure high humidity and beating with a birch broom. "Overseas" guests are often interested: when did baths appear in Russia? And what makes people torture themselves in such a barbaric way in a small hot room?

From nomadic tribes to princes of Kyiv

Even delving into the study of historical chronicles, it is impossible to say exactly when the first bathhouse appeared in Russia. After all, the nomadic tribes of the Scythians used special tents made of wooden poles covered with animal skins and with a hearth in the middle, for ritual cleansing, and simply washing on campaigns.

Before cleansing, stones were heated to white on the fire, which were then poured with water or decoctions of herbs. And the Scythian women rubbed twigs of cypress and cedar with water on heated stones. The resulting slurry was applied to the skin and kept during the day. Wash off this mask with warm water the next day. This procedure contributed not only to the cleansing of the skin from dirt and inflammatory diseases, but also gave it an incredibly fresh aroma.

Wooden frame or stone mansions

Studying the works, scientists found data about the century in which baths appeared in Russia. The monk writes that already in the 5th-6th centuries. the tribes of the Slavs used soap with hot steam and brooms for washing.

The pagan beliefs of that time identified washing in a steam room with cleansing the soul and body from filth and unity with the forces of nature: with the spirits of water, earth, air and fire. All important events in the life of a person of that time, from birth to death, were closely associated with the heat of the black storm.

For a long time, the bath was called black because of the smoke that accumulated in the room during heating. Only after baths with a chimney appeared in Russia did they become just soapboxes. The building itself was a wooden house with a stove, with the help of which the room was heated to the required temperature.

Due to the fact that such a “flimsy” building was easily flammable, even Prince Vladimir issued a decree that ordered the construction of baths near rivers in order to avoid massive fires. When stone baths appeared in Russia, it is not known exactly, but already in the middle of the 17th century there were public steam rooms in large cities.

Women's and men's

Until the reign of Catherine the Great, the steam rooms were common for both women and men. In such establishments it was possible not only to wash, but also to communicate with other people, to hear the latest news. In a large room, there could be members of several families with children of different ages, and such behavior was considered the norm.

In what year did baths appear in Russia, divided by gender? In 1743, a Senate decree divided the bathhouse into two parts: male and female. From that moment on, individuals of the opposite sex under the age of seven years were allowed on the territory of the men's bath, the same was with the female half.

luxury or necessity

In Russia, steam rooms were in almost every yard, if its size allowed. Once a week, most often on Saturday, the whole family heated and washed. Those who did not have a large farmstead and a soap room had the opportunity to visit common steam rooms.

Such institutions worked for a small fee, anyone could take a steam bath. Even during the reign of Vladimir Krasno Solnyshko baths were used to treat various ailments. And a century later, the famous monk-healer Agapius healed the sick only with a bath and healing herbs. Following the charter of the holy place, all the afflicted visited the baths three times a month.

"Ours" abroad

When baths appeared in Russia is more or less clear. But over time, Russian steam rooms have become fashionable in other countries. It all started with the trip of Peter the Great to France. The guardsmen accompanying the tsar began to lose their health due to a long “doing nothing”. So that service people would not lose their shape, Peter ordered to build a real Russian steam room on the banks of the Seine.

The Europeans were horrified to see on the banks of the river flushed from the steam of men who threw themselves into the cold water. To which the great king spoke about the health benefits of such procedures.

The emigration of Russians during the revolution also gave its results: America, England and Africa learned about the existence of such health-promoting procedures.

Health and longevity

When baths appeared in Russia, our ancestors immediately noticed their healing properties. After warming up, the body easily endured various loads, it was easier to recover from serious illnesses.

Tatars, French and other peoples for a long time believed that thanks to this “wild” method of healing, Russian men had good health and incredible endurance, and women were famous for their beauty, youth and pleasant skin color.

Beneficial effect on all organs and systems of the body:

• nervous system (calm and relax);
• cardiovascular (accelerate blood circulation, as a result, brain function improves);
• respiratory;
• endocrine.

trendy place

Until the early 19th century, "commercial" soaps were places for washing and collecting gossip. But after the construction of large stone buildings in the center of large cities - with separate offices, cozy buffets - baths became the main place where representatives of noble families preferred to gather.

Aristocrats gathered in a narrow circle to solve important problems, read literature and simply relax. Following the Russians, foreigners began to visit such steam rooms.

The most famous "secular" baths can rightfully be called Sandunovsky, which at one time collected the entire color of the aristocracy. And today this object is an architectural monument.

New time, new baths

The history of the appearance of baths in Russia is long and exciting. Today, several centuries later, a real steam room is difficult to find in big cities. Increasingly, residents of megacities prefer foreign analogues that do not require the use of a broom, and in terms of temperature they differ significantly from a real Russian steam room.

Finnish sauna, Turkish hammam, Roman baths have captivated the minds of the people of the twenty-first century. The newfangled trends instilled in the Slavs in pursuit of a healthy lifestyle run counter to the notions of proper existence in harmony with nature. No wonder the pagans of the 5th-6th centuries considered it the norm to cleanse their bodies with the help of whisks in a hot and humid bathhouse and drink in the process. a large number of herbal infusions.

When you see a “Russian Bath” sign in the city, you can be sure that you won’t find anything in common with the old original. Such institutions, equipped in apartments or shopping centers, are more like saunas.

But when you receive an offer to visit a country steam room, do not refuse. It is there that you can feel the real unity with nature. Sauna, heated by a wood-burning stove, standing on the banks of the river, will give pleasure and a charge of health, energy for a long time, and will make an indelible impression.

The history of the Slavic peoples hides many secrets and mysteries. But thanks to the annals, scientists have already unraveled many mysteries. Perhaps the Mongols were right, and it was the bath that was the means to maintain the health of the body and spirit of the Russian squads several centuries ago.