Hotel Gellert
The Hotel Gellért ( Hungarian Gellért szállóda ) is a well-known hotel on St. Gellértplatz 1 ( Hungarian Szent Gellért tér ) and Kelenbergstrasse 4 ( Hungarian Kelenhegyi út ) in Budapest . The hotel, named after Saint Gerhard ( Gellért in Hungarian ), today belongs to the Danubius Hotels Group and was built between 1912 and 1918 together with the associated Gellért bath in the eclectic style of the Vienna Secession (Viennese Art Nouveau ) and is located on the right bank of the Danube next to the Liberty Bridge at the foot of the Gellért hill .
Architecture and equipment
Inside the complex, which opened as a spa hotel, there is an Art Nouveau glass dome with decorations made of wrought iron. The domed hall opens up around an inner courtyard that serves as a roofed winter garden. The radiation emanating from the reception staircase leads to one of Bozó Stanisits designed stained glass windows covering the prosecution of wonder deer Csodaszarvas is from the Hungarian legends. The foyer and domed hall are reminiscent of the great halls of Roman thermal baths. The most beautiful decorative elements in the hotel include the tiles and colorful majolica statues produced by the Zsolnay porcelain factory , as well as the pillars in the whirlpool.
The Hotel Gellért is one of the most famous historical hotels in Europe, the guests are both businessmen and tourists. It has 234 rooms, including 13 suites , 38 superior double rooms, 94 standard double rooms as well as 49 single rooms with bath and 40 single rooms with shower. Most of the hotel rooms are located on the riverside and have a balcony with a view of the Danube.
Gellért bath
The Gellért Bath ( Hungarian Gellért gyógyfürdő ) was opened as part of the Hotel Gellért in 1918. It is considered to be one of the most beautiful thermal baths in Hungary. Largely destroyed during the Second World War and rebuilt in a simplified manner after the war, it was only restored to its original splendor during a comprehensive renovation in 2008.
The complex of the Gellért baths includes mixed swimming pools and thermal and steam baths separated by sex, a total of three outdoor and ten indoor pools with water temperatures between 26 and 38 ° C. The facilities include an open-air swimming pool framed by playfully shaped and mosaic-adorned walls, in which artificial waves are generated every 30 minutes, a whirlpool and saunas . There is also a shower bath and a Finnish sauna with a plunge pool and a children's pool. The roof of the inner main pool can be opened in good weather.
Thermal water
Essential components of the thermal water are sodium , calcium , magnesium , hydrogen carbonates , sulfates and fluoride ions . The water is recommended for use in degenerative diseases of the joints, spinal diseases, arthritis, herniated discs, vascular diseases or asthma and chronic bronchitis.
| Anions | amount | Cations | amount | Other | amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| chloride | 141.5 mg | sodium | 119.2 mg | Dioxoboric acid | 2.1 mg |
| bromide | 0.5 mg | calcium | 177.2 mg | Silicas | 19.5 |
| iodide | 0.04 mg | magnesium | 60.1 mg | free carbon dioxide | k. A. |
| fluoride | k. A. | iron | k. A. | dissolved oxygen | k. A. |
| sulfate | 331.7 mg | potassium | k. A. | ||
| Bicarbonate | 488.0 mg | lithium | k. A. | ||
| sulfide | 1.21 mg | ||||
| other | 1554.9 mg / L |
Information on the composition of the water from 1954 (n / a = information not available)
history
The thermal springs in and around Budapest were one of the reasons why the Romans settled on the Danube. The healing springs at the foot of the Gellértberg, which still feed the bath with thermal water, were already known in the days of the Árpáden , the first Hungarian ruling family. A hospital founded by the Johanniter already existed in 1178. During the time of the Turkish occupation , the bath was used as a public hammam under Abdurrahman Abdi Pascha . The bath was called Sárosfürdő (mud bath) because the mineral mud settled on the lower edge of the pool. In 1832 a small hotel was built at the bath. In 1835 the Bavarian King Maximilian II Joseph visited the bath.
In 1911, planning began for a spa hotel with an integrated thermal bath. Interrupted by the First World War, the hotel was built in 1912 and opened in September 1918 with 176 rooms. The bathrooms in the suites had both normal tap water and thermal water. The hotel was built according to plans by the Hungarian architects Ármin Hegedűs (1869–1945), Artúr Sebestyén (1868–1943) and Izidor Sterk (1860–1935) and is heavily influenced by Ödön Lechner's Art Nouveau buildings . The building sculpture comes from Aladár Gárdos (1878–1944), who also created some sculptures in the Gellért baths.
After the aster revolution , the hotel was used for military purposes until the end of 1919. In the 1920s it became one of the centers of social life in Budapest. On October 1, 1921, it was the venue for the international hotel congress. The first expansion of the hotel by 60 rooms took place in 1927. According to Artúr Sebestyén's plans, the thermal bath was expanded to include a wave pool . This historic wave pool still exists today in its original form. From 1933 to 1934 the hotel's former winter garden was converted into a whirlpool.
The hotel restaurant was leased to Karl Gundel in 1927 , who made it a top restaurant with an international reputation in the twenty years he worked.
The hotel was badly damaged in World War II. The foyer and domed hall were badly damaged, the front of the building on the banks of the Danube was completely destroyed. The part of the building facing the Gellértberg was partially burned out, and reconstruction began there in 1946. The restoration of the Danube side began in 1957. In 1962 the reconstruction of the hotel was completed. The last renovation took place in 1973.
Today two independent companies share the operation of the hotel and bathroom. The hotel is owned by the Danubius Hotels Group . The owner and operator of the Gellért baths is Budapest Gyógyfürdői és Hévizei Zrt. (BGYH - Budapest Spas and Thermal Spring Ltd. ) under the roof of the municipal Budapesti Városüzemeltetési Központ Zrt. (BVK HOLDING - Budapest City Management Center GmbH ). The BGYH subjected the pool to a comprehensive renovation between January 2007 and April 2008, during which the seating areas in the indoor and outdoor swimming pools as well as the children's pool received modern filter and circulation systems.
Trivia
MARTA EGGERTH sang in 1936 in the film where the lark sings of Karel Lamač in the Gellért Danube Waltz .
In 1937 Juliana , who later became Queen of the Netherlands, and Bernhard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld spent their honeymoon at the Hotel Gellért.
The Polish video and installation artist Katarzyna Kozyra (* 1963) created a video installation from scenes filmed with a hidden camera in the Gellért Baths. The installation Men's Bathhouse was shown at the 1999 Venice Biennale .
The Gellértbad hit the headlines in 2011 when it became known that the Hamburg-Mannheimer Inter-Organization (HMI) , a sales organization of the Hamburg-Mannheimer Versicherungs-AG , invited its best representatives to a dissolute sex party in the bath in June 2007 would have. 20 prostitutes and at least 64 insurance agents attended the party. According to the public prosecutor's office, the insurance company suffered damage totaling € 52,000.
A custom map of the computer game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO) is located in the Hotel Gellért of 2018. The map shows the interiors of the hotel and Gellért baths in realistic 3D animation.
literature
- András Rubovszky: Hotel Gellért. (in English), Artunion / Széchenyi Publishing House, Budapest 1988, ISBN 963-7408-02-9 .
- Justus von Daniels: That was nice. Gellért Bath in Budapest. In: Die Zeit , No. 6 of February 6, 2014.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Farkas Károly, Frank Miklós, Ödön schoolyard, Székely Miklós: Magyarország gyógyfürdői, gyógyhelyei és üdülőhelyei. Medicina, Budapest 1962, p. 108.
- ↑ BVK HOLDING website ( Memento from February 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Eggerth Márta: Kék Duna keringő - On the beautiful blue Danube. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
- ↑ Katarzyna Kozyra: Men's Bathhouse. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
- ↑ Anne Seith: Incredibly embarrassing . In: Der Spiegel . No. 21 , 2011, p. 71 ( online - May 23, 2011 ).
- ^ A pleasure trip to Budapest. Charges against ex-managers of the Hamburg-Mannheimer. Spiegel Online from November 1, 2012, accessed February 25, 2014.
- ↑ csgo.gamebanana.com: CS: GO-Map de_hotelgellert . Retrieved January 23, 2015.
- ↑ Counter Strike: Global Offensive - DE_HOTELGELLERT. on YouTube , Retrieved January 23, 2015.
Coordinates: 47 ° 29 '1.4 " N , 19 ° 3' 8.1" E