TRADITION OF HYDROTHERAPY
Did you know that Kamnik, along with Sebastian Kneipp's hydrotherapy center in Wörishofen, Germany, was the most important capital of hydrotherapy?
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Kamnik was an important destination for hydrotherapy. The public bathhouse called Kurhaus was located at the confluence of the Nevljica and Kamniška Bistrica rivers, where thermal water had been flowing into the Nevljica river since ancient times. The entrepreneur Alojz Prašnikar (1821-1899) founded the bathhouse. It had all the preparations for using hydrotherapy with electrotherapy and massage and a pool with hot, cold, and spraying baths, as well as appropriate medical assistance. Next to the medical building was the building of the so-called Water Spa. The bathhouse had rooms for hot, cold, and spraying baths. Right next to the building was a swimming pool with cabins and a wooden building with various gymnastic equipment. The park itself, which was rich in water and stretched from the confluence of the Bistrica and Nevljica rivers, also played an important role in the treatment. Even then, the additional catering and other leisure activities were highly developed.
On his numerous travels, Prašnikar became familiar with the importance of foreign traffic and tourism for the local area and promoted it himself. He was the initiator and pioneer of modern tourism in Kamnik and in Carniola region and one of the pioneers in the monarchy. He had already noticed the importance of the railway for attracting tourists in Bled, so he was one of the main initiators of the construction of the railway line to Kamnik. Prašnikar's bathhouse and medical center, Kurhaus, attracted many well-to-do visitors from Ljubljana as well as from Trieste, Vienna, and Prague. Many distinguished and important people came, not only from the Austro-Hungarian Empire but from all of Europe and even from the United States of America. In July 1883, the Austrian emperor Franz Joseph himself visited the medical center.
Praises for the Kamnik bathhouse and water spa also came from Sebastian Kneipp, the inventor of hydrotherapy. When the visits to his Wörishofen increased significantly, he began to recommend a visit to Kurhaus in Kamnik to his visitors. After Prašnikar's death, medical tourism declined, and where there was once a part of the medical center, there is now the popular Kermanc Park with a children's playground.
Today, we continue the tradition of hydrotherapy in Kamnik at the Snovik Thermal Spa with a comprehensive Kneipp philosophy of a healthy lifestyle.
Sebastian Kneipp (May 17, 1821 – June 17, 1897) was the founder of holistic natural healing.
"Everything we need to stay healthy has been given to us by nature." - Sebastian Kneipp
Terme Snovik is the only Kneipp center in Slovenia, and during your stay, you will have the opportunity to experience it through the five pillars established by Sebastian Kneipp, a German priest, water and phytotherapist. To maintain the health of the body and mind, water, herbs, exercise, diet, and a healthy lifestyle are necessary. Since he cured his tuberculosis by bathing in the cold Danube River in his youth, he decided to dedicate his life to healing people with natural elements. Kneipp's philosophy of life is simple and suitable for everyone.
