Created 21-Aug-09
Modified 21-Aug-09
Rogaška is steeped in history, the area has been inhabited since Roman times. The first written mention of the spring is in a manuscript dated 1141 and we know the water has been used for curative purposes since medieval times. Real fame came in c.1665 when a feudal lord, the Croat Peter Zrinjski announced his miraculous healing. The commercialisation of the water followed and at the turn of the 18th century 20,000 bottles were being sold in Vienna.
In 1803 the regional governor, Count Attem, turned Rogaška into a proper health resort which was soon to become one of the most fashionable and popular in Europe. A period of rapid growth between 1840 and 1860, helped on by the new Vienna-Trieste rail link (1857), necessitated the building of several hotels. People came from England, Italy, Russia, Poland, Germany, Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia and the United States. The resort boasted many illustrious visitors, including the Hapsburgs. They were not the only royals to visit, many others came, including the French Bonapartes. Several celebrities put in regular appearances too, such as the composer Franz Liszt who entertained the guests. Moreover Styria had become the third biggest international seller after France’s Vichy and Germany’s Selter and it won a prize at the World Exhibition in Chicago in 1893.
© Alice Coyl