Believe it or not the rise of Christianity was also the
decline of the bathing culture. You can't really blame the
Christians though since by this time the baths had fallen
from their place of the healthy lifestyle to true dens of
iniquity. The Dark Ages were not only dark, they also
smelled pretty bad.
With the fall of the Roman Empire bathing was officially
banned. Spiritual cleansing was deemed more important than
the medicinal bath. Some of the bath complexes themselves
were converted to churches while some of the elite
aristocrat class could still take advantage of taking the
waters. The general population became adverse to going
anywhere near the water. It was not uncommon for people to
go for years without bathing. Makes you glad you didn't
live back then doesn't it.
From the 13th century on, the baths began gradually to come
back into favor. As the Moors began to spread their
influence across Europe the public baths were rebuilt and
once again the medicinal value of the bath as well as for
relaxation came back into vogue.
Fear of disease and a lack of understanding about how it
was spread led to another decline of the public baths in
the 16th century. However some Italian doctors found some
of the lost texts on ancient medical treatments and the
therapeutic value of the water. By the end of the 1500's
two of them Bacci and Minardo had published articles
revisiting the value of the bath for sound healthy living.
Bacci believed that in order to truly benefit a person
needed to be able to to lead a quiet orderly life in
pleasant surroundings with good food and wine.
Unfortunately that ruled out most of the population since
they had neither the time for leisure or the money for the
other ingredients.
At the turn of the 19th century, spas were being
rediscovered and the bathing culture again grew to include
more of the masses. Doctors were convinced that Mother
Nature had a remedy for everything that ailed us in the
form of some mineral spring. The principles of the
medicinal use of thermal water (balneotherapy) and
Hydrotherapy were published by Kneipp and Priessnitz.
Kneipp took a holistic approach to the treatment of
disease. While the spas and resorts focused on serving the
wealthy, Kneipp focused his attention on on the common man.
With the interest in mineral waters and the development of
hotels at springs were popular all over Europe and North
America. Every spa resort had its own village sprout up
around it complete with theater, casino and promenades
alongside the bathing facility. The spa resorts became the
place to be and be seen for the elite and a place for the
artists to get their creative juices flowing. Baden Baden,
Germany became the most glamorous spa resort in Europe.
----------------------------------------------------
If it takes a village to raise your Hot Tub Cover, it's
time for a different kind of Spa Cover. Check out the only
Custom Made Spa Covers that don't get heavy or break,
available in 60 plus colors of Sunbrella fabric.
http://www.spacap.com
No comments:
Post a Comment