Mineral spas are spa resorts developed around naturally occurring mineral springs . Like seaside resorts , they are mainly used recreationally although they also figured prominently in prescientific medicine .
6-621: The Blue Baths is a heritage geothermal baths building in Rotorua , in the North Island of New Zealand. The building is designed in the Spanish Mission style . It is listed as a Category 1 Historic Place by Heritage New Zealand . The first Blue Baths at the Government Gardens site were opened in 1886, and stood for over 40 years before being demolished in 1932 when the present building
12-548: The Belgian town Spa . As the Victoria era ended, the influences of the industrial revolution created more and more varied members of the upper middle class . The concepts of vacationing, tourism, and travel became less the property of the old monied classes and more shared by an increasing population base of those who could afford holiday trips, like the rich. Such adventures had much allure before any audio-visual entertainment outside
18-464: The drudgery of a hot house in warm weather during summer's onset and were seasonally populated by the well-to-do. They eventually became early vacation spots with the counter-Victorian work ethic 'rationale' of health as an excuse to have fun and mix with one's peers in recreation. Subsequently, many became the seed stock for today's modern vacation resorts. Locations such as Steamboat Springs , Vail , St Moritz , Mineral Wells first became popular for
24-691: The questionable health benefits of mineral or soda-water soaks, ingestion, and clean outs during the hey-day of patent medicines and backward medical knowledge. United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt suffered a paralytic illness , and regularly visited Warm Springs and other hot springs for restorative soaks. While his cousin Theodore Roosevelt was known as a physically active and healthy person, he had asthma and used physical activity as well as occasional visits to mineral spas as attempts to address his asthma. The name "spa" comes from
30-491: Was called a mineral cure and gave let to phrases such as taking a cure and taking the waters . There has always been a mixture of recreational and medicinal connotations involved, from rest and relaxation, stress relief , and convalescence to more specific notions such as humorism . These phrases are sometimes used as a euphemism for one trying to kick a drug dependency. In many cases, mineral spas were located in mountainous locales that gave an additional excuse to leave
36-606: Was constructed alongside. Construction of the new building was well advanced by August 1932. On 26 January 2021, the Blue Baths was closed to the public after a seismic assessment found the building met only 15 percent of the strength requirements for new buildings. This article about a New Zealand building or structure is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Mineral spa Spas were used for millennia for their purported healing or healthful benefits to those wealthy or close enough to partake of their waters. This
#130869