On the site where the Baia Populara Sibiu is nowadays, the first stearin candle factory in Transylvania was opened in 1840.
After moving the factory to the present Tower Street, Franz Fruhbeck senior set up the first steam baths in the city in the 1840s.
In 1886, Johann Habermann buys the bath from Fruhbeck's heirs, which he extends and modernizes. Habermann's bathroom is located on the site of the current Pediatric Hospital in Astra Park.
The Hermannstädter Allgemeinen Sparkasse (Hermannstädter Allgemeinen Sparkasse) General Assembly endorsed this idea and provided the means of implementation from its reserve funds.
The building, the creation of Karl Hocheder (1854-1917), professor of architecture at the Technical University of Munich, combines Baroque stylistic forms with elements of the "Jugendstil" of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and is the most representative building in the city for this architectural style. Professor Karl Hocheder commissioned one of his best assistants - Hans Heckner - to supervise the construction works. Together with the master builder Gustav Matz and his team, he erected the building so quickly that the inauguration could take place on December 11, 1904.
In terms of architectural structure, the People's Bath Sibiu, is an almost faithful copy of the Muller Bath in Munich, this being realized by the same architect.
On the left side, the bathroom had a 21-meter long, 9-meter wide pool, covered with sea-green sandstone tiles. To the right of the vestibule was the Roman-Irish sauna. Unique in the country for the complexity of its facilities: sweat room with 32 cabins, wet sauna, dry sauna, hot and cold pools, showers, massage room.
Upstairs were 10 cabins with bathtubs and showers for bathing. As well as five rooms for treatment baths. Mud treatment brought from Battaglia (Italy), electric light baths or galvanic electric current baths.
Most of these services are still accessible today.
The growing popularity of the bath, convinced Dr. Carl Wolff to consider offering the possibility of both treatment. as well as accommodation for patients from outside. Thus the sanatorium was born.
The Stadtpark Sanatorium (inaugurated in 1906) formed, together with the People's Baths until after the First World War, a unique sanatorium complex in Transylvania.
The sanatorium building, built according to the plans of the same Professor Hocheder, consisted of half of the rooms for the sick and the living quarters of the institution's doctor. And half of the rental quarters. The dining room and the reading room were partly located in the building connecting the bath and the sanatorium. After the opening of the sanatorium, the number of clients of the People's Bath increased to an average of 5000/year. Patients came from all over the country, as well as from Turkey and Germany.
Ioana Pureca
Director
Baia Populara Public Service Sibiu
Str. Andrei Saguna nr.2, 550009 Sibiu, Romania
Tel. / fax - 0040-269-214 445
Mobile - 0040-0752 227 862
E-mail: ioana.dancanet@sibiu.ro
Site - www.baiapopulara.sibiu.ro
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