A year ago, looking at the reed-covered terrace ( which I have already told you about), I suddenly saw in its place a Trypollian house with a painted stove with authentic ornaments. I saw a bathhouse that could become not only a magnet for Woloshin banya, but also a reason to tell our guests about Moldova’s rich history.
Meanwhile, I met a team of talented guys from Ukraine. They took on the task of helping us and developed a Trypollian clay bathhouse concept with a high-performance stove.
What we decided to do was make a huge steam room – 25 square meters and over 70 cubic meters. More than 20 people will be able to do a steam session there at the same time. Two island racks will allow 4 steam masters to handle 2 guests simultaneously! And the powerful clay accumulator in the walls will distribute the heat evenly to all guests.
Construction work has begun. First the heated stone floors
Next came the wooden casing and walls.
The windows are not only oval-shaped, but also super-elliptical. Something intermediate between an oval and a rectangle.
We prepared the walls to smear them with clay.
And we brought in a king stainless steel stove. This monster is capable of heating more than 100 cubic feet of air and keeping the steam at high temperatures for twenty-four hours. The stones alone weigh over a ton. And if you include steel, brick walls and clay – all of these will keep the heat in for days and distribute it evenly.
We gave the pipes coming from the stove a futuristic look. They would provide a constant flow of warm air in the form of convection.
And we started the most delicious part – the clay cake. We poured the clay, using only our hands. That way the walls would be uneven and somehow alive.
In the meantime, our strong pine racks up to 20 cm thick and weighing 200 kg arrived from Ukraine.
We also struggled with the door – because of the complex shape of the arch, we had to order the door from carpenters.
It took us a long time to choose the right color for the walls – we had to match the shades of terracotta and clay that the local Trypollians built their houses from. The walls had to be repainted several times, as sometimes they came out too red, other times too brown.
At the same time, we electrified the bathroom – everything from pouring water on the stones and ventilation to hot air injection would be automated. We walled the fixtures and covered them with wooden hats. In the beams we mounted LED strips.
And finally, we took care of the ornaments. For this purpose, we invited Sergey Burda – an artist from Ukraine, an expert in church painting.
And so work began – first on the inside. At the mid-wall, we decided to make a frieze in the form of a wavy snake (an exact copy from pottery).
On the ceiling we drew a big round ornament like on the vases. We decorated the stove with a bull’s head, and the door vaults – with a border with inscriptions in Trypollian style.
What we did on the outside. We placed exact copies of the deities of the Cucuteni-Trypollian culture on the sides and made characteristic ornaments on the facade.
Whew, we’re tired. We turned on the oven and were stunned – the steam was so strong, it almost broke down the door! Our experts were puzzled, being used to more manual steaming. But here, in the clay bathhouse, unique possibilities emerged – you can steam 20 people at once, you can layer the steam, you can mix these layers and hand them around the room. Steam is actually tangible as an entity.
After training, our steam masters have learned to do such manipulations with steam that guests have fallen in love with our steam room. And after the steam treatments, contrasting procedures await you in the cold spring water pond where you can take a dip.
Here are more pictures:
In short, the bathhouse really turned out gorgeous. Amazing design, full of meaning and history, the most awesome unique steam stove and the millennial energy of our ancestors tangible in this clay bathhouse. Unforgettable stuff!
Come and see for yourself – it’s unique in the world, you won’t find anything like this anywhere else.
Our beautiful girl 🙂
