Vafiadis added that lighting is key throughout the Swan Spa and is subtly integrated to wash upwards over the walls, to enhance a sense of serenity. The spa menu includes a host of rituals supplied by Espa. Two treatment rooms – one of which is for couples – combine a palette of crisp white shades with blue details. The wet area includes a spacious hammam entirely clad in white marble, as well as a salt room, steamroom and sauna.
The second room is more private and is a designated space for guests to lie down, rest and totally let go. This is one of two distinct relaxation rooms, where visitors rest their minds and drink tea before and after their treatments. Vafiadis also chose to create an ethereal relaxation room that hints at traditional bathhouses as well as a deep-water pool into which swans may dive. On entering the facility, guests are met with an all-white marble reception before they retreat into the 250sq m subterranean spa’s deep petrol blue spaces, as if descending into the healing waters of the river.ĭoors have been designed to resemble the swans’ soft white plumes of feathers while ornate metalwork screens depict their elegant motions. Vafiadis explained: “The narrative of the Swan Spa is of light and dark, alluding to the mysterious depths of the River Danube which flows so near to Matild Palace and is where the swans make their home.” In line with this, MKV felt Matild Palace was always destined to have its own spa inspired by the local bathing culture and re-interpreted into a soothing sanctuary where the graceful forms of the swans which inhabit the River Danube are infused within the design. In due course, the building became home to a grand café in the central European tradition that became a haunt of famous artists and musicians in the mid-twentieth century.įrom the days of the Roman Empire, Budapest’s reputation for thermal bathing was second to none, and numerous bathhouses remain in the city today. The transformation was led by Maria Vafiadis, founder and managing director of interior architecture and design practice MKV Design, in collaboration with local architects Péter Cajka and Puhl Antal.Ĭompleted in 1902, Matild Palace was originally a retail and apartment property owned by and built for Princess Klotilde of Saxe-Coburg and Archduchess of Austria. The 130-room luxury hotel is the culmination of a five-year project to convert a neglected UNESCO World Heritage Site into a grand European hotel. The wellness facility is accommodated within Matild Palace – the latest addition to Marriott’s Luxury Collection portfolio and its first location in Hungary. A new spa has opened in Budapest, with design influenced by the city’s historical links to thermal bathing and the graceful forms of swans.
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