Dear guests of Therme 51 Leukerbad
We are delighted to be your hosts during your stay in Leukerbad. Together with our team, we aim to make your stay a pleasant one.
Please let us know if there is anything that we can do for you. We wish you a few relaxing days in the midst of the impressive mountains of Leukerbad. Enjoy our natural thermal hot springs and absorb the power of mountains around you.
Sincerely,
Family Didier Grichting and team
Our hotel team
Our well-trained team is there for you every day and will do our best to make you feel at home.
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History of the Therme 51 (popular spa)
The baths of Leukerbad have been visited for centuries.
The history
History of the Leukerbad National Spa
The earliest document, which has the municipal archive, is dated 1215.
In addition to people of rank and rank, many poor patients also hoped to find recovery here. The poor patients were housed in private houses. They were allowed to take their meals to the distinguished guests in the hotels. By the sight of the poor bathers, who were often afflicted with skin diseases, the ladies and gentlemen were of the opinion that they were exposed to the risk of infection. That is why the rich bathers decided to make the beneficence of the healing springs accessible to the poor by the construction of a poor hospital.
In 1847 a collection was organized for this purpose in the hotels of Leukerbad and other places (Fr. 4605.00). Through an annual collection the fund grew. Through friendly care of the hotel guests, poor bathers were quartered and eaten in the village. They were open to the St. Laurence spring, also known as the Zurich baths. This facility left much to be desired in many respects.
In 1865 it was possible to start the construction of a poor hospital, calculated as 20 beds, which stood at CHF 30250.00.
H. H. Pastor Ferdinand Schmid, pastor of Ernen and a native of Leukerbad, President of the Commission of the Poor’s Hospital, submitted to the monastery of Ingenbohl a petition for 2 sisters to provide food for poor bathing guests during the summer and to take over the primary school in winter.
Ms Ms Theresia Scherer, Generaloberst, was pleased to send sisters to Leukerbad, but Father Theodosius Florentini, who had just died before, had given his first sermon to Primiz. It was he who placed the first sisters in the Valais, namely, 1861 in the Sentences.
In 1866 the first two sisters came to Leukerbad in April. Since the construction was still incomplete, they were lodged with the family Lehner.
The bathing conditions have not changed. In 1874, in July, the Armenian Commission issued a call for charity in order to build an armed bath. The cost estimate was CHF 20,000.00.
The building was begun in 1875, and during the 1876 season, the sick of the poor hospital took their own bathing establishment.
From 1875 onwards, 30 to 50 people came to the cure every year. Daily reimbursement CHF 2.00 for logis, food, doctor and pharmacy.
For many years, the girls ‘and girls’ school was in the hospital. The dormitories of the bathers served as a school room. In May, the benches had to be put on the floor and the beds put back into the halls and the whole house to be thoroughly cleaned.
In the course of time, the rush of spa guests was growing, so that the few, some still primitive rooms, offered too little space. For the season, they rented several rooms in the village, which also brought a side-money for some families.
Every year, the necessary repairs and more appropriate facilities were made, as far as the construction of the existing buildings permitted.
Thus the years passed, the number of the bathers rose, but worries and difficulties were not spared.
In the autumn of 1958 the former hospital baths were renamed to the “Volksheilbad”.
In 1961/62 an extension building was erected, which brought some relief into the enterprise, but in November 1979 had to give way to the present new building, due to structural difficulties.
In 1970, the old Badhaus had gone out of its way and had to make way for today’s Badhaus. It was inaugurated in February 1972.
The old building was no longer sufficient for today’s living conditions. Rebuilding was out of the question. After a long pause, they decided to make a total crash.
On the 5th. In November 1979 the company Vitus Schnyder from Gampel started the demolition.
The work was well organized. The weather was also part of, so on 22.11.1979 the demolition and the removal were fixed and finished.
On April 15, 1980, the construction company Bernhard Fantoni started construction in Brig. Very good work was done, the weather conditions were favorable, so that the shell could be brought under the roof before the wintering.
On the 7th of November 1980, the feast day was celebrated. The district heating system, which was not yet planned at the beginning of the construction, encountered unforeseen difficulties with the excavation of the canal. Now we enjoy the advantages of this heater.
With the new building, a long-standing wish of the sisters also came to a place where they can perform their prayers undisturbed. After permission from the episcopal office, the artistic design was handed over by Raphaela Bürgi of Ingenbohl. May there be a great blessing on the inhabitants of the house from this place.
Today, after the completion of the work, we can thankfully look back on a successful and relatively short construction period, without any significant accidents. The visible blessing of God prevailed over us during the construction period, for which “thank you” was said. May the protection of God also dwell upon this house.
In 1995 the “Ingenbolschwestern” left the Volksheilbad due to a lack of newcomers. They had been managing the fortunes of the house since 1866. At the entrance to the guest house II there is a memorial plaque reminding of this time.
From 1995 to 2008, the Volksheilbad by Hans Jäger and pastor Erni Hans was the first secular administrator. At this time the Volksheilbad had only 5 modern rooms, which had a wet cell.
Since 2008, Didier Grichting and his wife Sandra have taken over the very interesting task of leading the house into the future. The far-sightedness of today’s foundation council under the leadership of Paul Inderkummen made it possible to initiate extensive renovations over recent years.
Now we have managed to provide you with a modern and comfortable accommodation and try to always improve.
Family Didier Grichting and TEAM