Where One Has Royal Treatment

During the 19^th and at the beginning of the 20^th century, Serbian spas were trendy places similar to their counterparts in Europe. Many of them still feature palaces, summer residences, villas, baths, fountains, parks and other structures that may rightly be called royal, offering good entertainment and great pleasure.

By Radmila Tamindžić

For the beneficial effect of their waters and refreshing air, spas were places frequented by Serbian rulers from both the Obrenović and Karadjordjević dynasties, and members of their families who also invited elite guests – from wealthy industrialists and merchants, politicians, actors, writers and other public figures. The history of Serbian spas begins just a year after Serbia’s liberation from Turkish rule in 1833, when Slovakian Dr Karlo Pacek, suggested to Prince Miloš that he send spa waters to Vienna for scientific analyses. Immediately upon confirmation of their "therapeutic" qualities, Dr Pacek specified the first instructions for their exploit. Soon after, Baron Sigmund Herder, head of Saxon mines, analyzed the water from Brestovac and later he did the same with waters from other spas. When their curative properties were confirmed, he proposed building a bath "for the remedy and recovery of people".

The development of spa tourism in Serbia is inseparable from Prince Miloš Obrenović, who favoured the Brestovačka Banja Spa and the Sokobanja Spa, where he built his residences. The Prince’s favourite mineral water was "kiseljak" of Bukovica. When, after 20 years in exile, he resumed the Serbian throne in 1858, the first thing he did was visit his beloved Sokobanja Spa where he established rules on spa organisation. From there, the Prince proceeded to the spa under Mt. Bukulja to drink "kiseljak" mineral water. There he built the Church of the St. Archangel and the town, which in time merged with the Spa and, according to his wish, was named Arandjelovac. Already in advanced age, the Prince ordered the construction of an imposing structure, the future "Old Building", indeed the only hotel in Serbia built by two opposite dynasties.

Although they invested a considerable amount of money into the Serbian spas, the successors of Miloš, Prince Michael and his sons, King Milan and King Aleksandar Obrenović, favoured the European spas as at that time they offered many more conveniences and entertainment for guests. However, King Milan’s reign is still remembered for its splendid balls organised in the "Old Building". It is also known that the King used to visit the Niška Banja Spa together with his brother Aleksandar. Queen Draga used to go to the famed Dr Petar Dojić, a physician at the Ribarska Banja Spa, to treat her sterility. A special bathtub with porcelain tiles was built for her therapy.

The Koviljača Banja Spa also boasts of one famous bathtub, today one of its more exclusive offers. This bathtub was made in 1908 for King Peter I Karadjordjević, who had supported building, with state funds, a sulfurous bath. However, today it is a true ornament of the Spa and the favourite motif on postcards from the town. In contrast to some other spas in Serbia where guests used to revel at night, here there was no mention of "any revelry, indulgence, binge or casino gambling".

The successor to King Petar, King Aleksandar I Karadjordjević, built the elite hall in the Spa – the Kur Salon, which comprises a dancing hall, restaurant, library, beer room and a club – the first gambling salon in the Balkans.

Aleksandar Obrenović, Petar I, Aleksandar I and Petar II Karadjordjević all drank the waters of the Vrnjačka Banja Spa but it was the latter who actually turned it into a royal and elite spa in Serbia. When, in the 1880s, management of the Spa was given to the state, its development underwent sudden progress. Wealthy people from the region began building villas and boarding houses in the area. Among these new villas, the first belonged to General Jovan Belimarković, today one of the recognisable symbols of the Spa. The Spa’s offer was refreshed when a new spring "Snežnik" was opened in 1916, and a spring "Slatina" capped in 1935, which then led to construction of the thermal bathhouse. The layout of the lush park, with roundels arranged in Baroque style, was made by the Czech Josip Paris, who was the owner of a famed flower shops in Vienna and Maribor.

The Vrnjci Spa has always been known for its vibrant cultural life, classical music concerts, theatre guest performances and for a record number of visitors. The first swimming pool in Serbia was built at the Vrnjci Spa in 1936 and it was noted that "ladies in long dresses played cricket, the military orchestra entertained guests in the park and that chases were organised for hunters at nearby Mt. Goč. Falconers demonstrated their skills at shows. The Spa already had the first polyclinic, railway and the game of tennis was played often …"

The first official guest at the Brestovačka Banja Spa was Princess Ljubica, and Prince Miloš was welcomed there with the greatest honours. His successor to the throne, Prince Aleksandar Karadjordjević, spent so much time at the Brestovačka Banja Spa that the Spa almost came to look like the summer capital of Serbia. Prince Aleksandar built a lavish residence there where life was organised according to ceremonial customary for summer residences, after the model of European rulers. The villa "Toplica", today in the centre of the Spa’s medical block, was built by King Peter I Karadjordjević.

This monarch was the favourite guest at the Ribarska Banja Spa, in whose hot springs he would alleviate the pain he suffered from his notorious gout. Having rooms on the first floor of the villa, King Peter visited the Spa as long as he lived, the only break being during World War One. Aside from the king’s bathtub, also preserved is the staircase, lower than standard ones, on which the King would go down to the water. To honour the memory of this period, the King’s bronze sculpture, in natural size, is set on the bench in the park.

There is a story connected with the Ribarska Banja Spa that speaks about a Russian volunteer, the unhappily enamored nobleman Nikolai Nikolayevich Rayevski, who was killed in battle against the Turks at the Adrovački Vis. At the place of his death is a chapel that guests of the Spa regularly visit. Rayevski’s fate inspired the character of Count Vronsky, the hero of Leo Tolstoy’s novel Ana Karenin.

Next to Island’s geysers, the Vranjska Banja Spa has the warmest waters in Europe – 96 degrees centigrade. This is the reason why King Peter I Karadjordjević twice replaced the waters of the Ribarska Banja Spa with the springs of Vranje. Historical data reveal that the Spa at that time was swarming with foreign visitors, who found pleasure in the colours of the southern region and in the authentic Oriental milieu. Restaurants that offered the most delicious roast meat and music used to work day and night, while Gypsy orchestras played at every corner, so that the sounds of fiddles and trumpets could be heard everywhere.

Sokobanja is known also for employing the first spa physician, Dr Djordje Novaković, who was appointed by Prince Miloš. Princess Ljubica frequently visited the Spa with Princes Milan and Mihailo. The commemorative fountain "Three Kings" in the Niška Banja Spa bears witness that King Milan, King Aleksandar Obrenović and King Aleksandar I Karadjordjević enjoyed its therapeutic waters. The last monarch mentioned embarked from this Spa on his last journey to Marseilles, where he was assassinated in 1934.

Under the auspices of the HRH Crown Prince Aleksandar II Karadjordjević, Tourist World Magazine initiated an ambitious project entitled "The Royal Spas of Serbia" that includes an exclusive bilingual monograph. The author of the monograph is Zdravko Bubreško. With a good number of unknown anecdotes and archival photographs, the book describes eight famous spas, which were once fashionable cultural centres of Serbia: Sokobanja, Banja Koviljača, Vrnjačka Banja, Ribarska, Niška, Bukovička, Brestovačka and Vranjska Banja Spas.