The old hot springs spa
Front of the spa building from 1900.
Photograph from 1904.
Original spa or current floor. Observe the side of the building. Photograph 1930.
Marked in red, the spa built in 1900 over another that had been intentionally burned. Photograph from 1913
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Introduction
You will be surprised to know that just behind this panel, on the ground, you have a thermal well, and that another one is hidden under the asphalt behind you. And so on at various points around where you are.
Description
The most important of them, known as A Burga, is located within the spa itself, due to its high temperature. On it, several spas were built for almost two hundred years. The current one you are seeing, made of stone, is the work of the architect Juan Argenti Navazas, who designed it in 1928 to replace a previous one made of wood and brick built in 1900. Let us imagine how this environment could have changed since 1841, when the old spa was rather a camp of scattered huts built with stone and wood and in whose interior there were holes dug as graves that were filled with rising water at a level higher than sea level. That is what the place looked like towards the end of the 19th century.
On 25 August 1987, around 9 p.m., a serious fire broke out in this building, apparently due to a short circuit. The fire reached great proportions and traffic had to be cut off at the entrance to the bridge that connects Illa da Toxa with the town of O Grove. Since then, the building has never been opened or remodelled again.
On 25 August 1987, around 9 p.m., a serious fire broke out in this building, apparently due to a short circuit. The fire reached great proportions and traffic had to be cut off at the entrance to the bridge that connects Illa da Toxa with the town of O Grove. Since then, the building has never been opened or remodelled again.
Audio guides
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Transcript
The historic spa and hot springs. You might be surprised to know that there is a hot water spring in the ground just behind this panel, and another one under the asphalt behind you. In fact, there are quite a few around here. The largest, known as A Burga, is inside the spa itself, because of its high temperature. Over the last 200 years, a series of spas were built around it, one after another. The stone building you see now was designed by the architect Juan Argenti Navazas in 1928 to replace a wood and brick structure built in 1900. We can imagine how this setting has changed since 1841, when the old spa was more like a campsite with little stone and wood cabins scattered around, each one covering holes dug into the ground, where the water would rise up higher than sea level to fill them up. This odd arrangement continued until the late 19th century. Its end was strange too. On the 25th of August 1987, around 9pm, the building caught fire, probably because of a short circuit. The fire quickly got out of hand, and traffic had to be stopped at the entrance to the bridge between the island of A Toxa and the town of O Grove. Since then, the building has never been reopened or restored. We hope you have enjoyed this short tour of the island's history.