80 years of Sauna, Spa and Wellness experience

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From the bathing parlour to the oasis for body and soul: the history of the sauna.

Millions of Germans are sure of the positive regeneration effects of sauna bathing. It trains the immune system of the body and helps to prevent flu infections, strengthens the circulation and has a positive effect on the metabolism. This is what the renowned Berlin clinic Charité discovered in their research conducted on behalf of KLAFS, the world market leader in the sauna industry. Sauna bathing also helps release stress and hectic in everyday life. "Besides the health advantages, the most important part for me is switching off during the two hours in the sauna. Here, I can regenerate and relax better than anywhere else", says Gerd Müller, the "Bomber of the Nation", who shot the conclusive goal against Holland in the 1974 finales. In hotels, saunas have for long been the standard equipment. Mainly they are for the house guest but increasingly are open to the public. The number of saunas in hotels and holiday homes in town and tourist locations lie at around 5,000 believes the German Sauna Association. As they attract guests and visitors, their numbers are increasing continuously - through adding facilities to hotels and new constructions. Today, the wellness orientation is focussed especially on holiday hotels. Sports facilities and fitness studios have about 3,800 saunas. Added to this are about 2,400 public facilities. All in all, about 10,000 sauna baths are open to the German public. Already before the currency reform in 1948, there were a number of individual sauna facilities between Garmish and Berlin, for example in 1932 the public sauna of the family Moldenhauer in Berlin. From 1934, a sports sauna in the hotel Eckbauer in Garmish and a similar one in Olympic village in 1936 in Berlin. Eric Klafs, the engineer who founded the company of the same name in 1928, and who knew the Olympic sauna, supplied the medical bath for the project because the focus of the company lay at first in medical bath facilities, which KLAFS later on equipped with saunas. With the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany, the numbers rose sharply. By 1960, there were over 1,000 sauna baths in service, ten years later there were already 2,500. This number doubled by 1980 to more than 5,000 and consolidated on this level by the mid 1980's. A sauna construction boom appeared in the early 1990's in the new federal states. At the same time, sauna construction in the private homes increased as well. At home the Germans wanted to enjoy the positive effects of sweating just as much. More than 1.5 million Germans have a private sauna. Anticipating this trend, Erich Klafs constructed and offer the first modular sauna in 1952: pre-fabricated in the factory and re-assembled in the customers home. Besides offer products for large customers, he also specialised on offering sauna solutions for common people. He believed there would be times, when his company would be selling more than 1,000 saunas per year. And he proved himself right. Because the 1.5 million private sauna would grow in numbers continuously. As a company, KLAFS had much influence on the implementation, design and establishment of the sauna and introduced surprising concepts such as the Proteo which received the red dot Design Award, the first sauna to do this. The latest sauna developments place the individual in the centre: the KLAFS Sanarium with SaunaPur, for example, allows you to choose between aroma bath, soft steam bath, warm air bath and tropical bath as well as the traditional sauna. And this is not all: optical inspiration from light and colours are combined with soft acoustic sounds and so have a positive and inspiring effect on the mood and body of the sauna bather. Here, the individual can find him or herself again, do something positive for the health and leave behind everyday stresses. The heat relaxes the muscles and sweating cleans the body from within. With all the positive effects of the sauna, it is no surprise that the forbearer of the sauna today, the hot stone bath, is an old cultural human artifact. But only few realise that sauna bathing is a thousand year old tradition even here. Excavation sites reveal that hot stone baths reach back to the stone age. It is suspected that the first sweat baths were introduced to Central and South America from East Asia via the Bering Straits as well as spreading through Central Asia to the Urals. From Asia Minor, this bathing culture spread through out the Mediterranean. In the Orient, the Hamam was developed in the middle ages by the Byzantines following the Roman-Greek baths. The Hamam, the famous Turkish bath was brought to Europe by the Crusaders. The Slavic tribes, too, used sweat baths early on in their culture. From there it spread through out Central Europe. Old wood cuts from the time of the Merowinger (5th to 8th century) show hot stone baths, which with their heaters, the banked up walls and interior wood cladding resemble our own saunas today. In the early and late Middle Ages, the bathing parlour was much valued by all social classes in Europe. The hay days were in second half of the Middle Age. At the same time, the meaning of the word Bathing Parlour is not always clear: In some cases it means sweat baths. The steam was created by pouring water over hot stones. The bathers sat on the wood benches, which were situated at different levels, just as in the modern sauna. But sometimes the bathing parlour was also equipped with a tub and people would bath in hot water. The word "parlour" originally meant a heatable room or bathroom. In times of the Renaissance, the bathing culture went into decline: it was a problem for the Church. In the 18th and 19th centuries the sweat bath disappeared from Germany. But the fact that bathing was widespread can still be seen by the many bath houses which are still part of old farm steads and which are still used to make malt, lichen and fruits. And so it was a real new beginning when the sweat bath returned to Germany in the 20th century and the Finnish word "Sauna" which means "Room of Wood" was introduced. Today, the German Sauna Association estimated that 30 million citizens over the age 14 visit the sauna on a regular and irregular basis. And one thing becomes clear from history: sauna bathing is more popular than ever: people love the sauna.