Indiana Jones and the Temple of Rác

It's been a rough year for many local fans of thermal bathing, as two of Budapest's most-beloved Ottoman-era gőzfürdők (thermal baths) - the Rudas and the Rác - have been under heavy reconstruction. The bad news is that, at least in the case of the Rác (which you can still sometimes see written "Rácz," and which means "Serb") it's still going to be at least a year before the taps to the hot spring water from neighboring Gellért hill are turned back on. The good news is that one of the reasons it will be delayed involves teams of Indiana Jones-like archeologists digging the whole place up looking for clues about what's gone down during the last half-millennium of soaking.

The Rác complex is very large, and it goes back a long, long time. It was supposedly the favorite bath of king Mátyás (Matthew), who ruled Hungary from 1458 to 1490, and was also the "anti-king" of Moravia, Silesia, and Lusatia. It is now going to be managed by the Kempinski hotel group, which is building a 55-room super-lux wellness hotel on the site.

After conquering Hungary in the early 16th century, the Turks built the main bathing chamber, the outside of which you can see here. The aim of the reconstruction is to recapture the Rác's original Ottoman magic.

Here's what the inside of the main bath looked like a few years ago. Nice, but not very atmospheric, unless 1970s commie retro really floats your boat.

Here's what the inside of the same room looked like a couple of days ago.

The workers, many of whom are former miners, are gingerly removing the original floor tiles, in part so carbon-dating can be done on the wood pilings in the foundation beneath. Apparently, carbon-dating of wood is so accurate you can almost tell which month the stuff was put in. Amazing.

One of the discoveries was the original stone pipe used to bring water in from the nearby springs.

Then again, getting thermal water into the baths has never been much of a problem, as the whole place is pretty much floating on it. Here the archeologists found a basement chamber flooded in sulphury-good water. The entire area reeks of rotting eggs, though in the best possible way.

While many of the 19th Century additions to the bath are being removed, one that will stay is a separete bath designed by famed architect Miklós Ybl, the genius behind Budapest's opera house, among other masterpieces. Like the Turkish-era bath, it is made of stone and is awesome.

In this pit the archeologists found artifacts left by the Celts who used to live on Gellért hill, until the Romans gave them the bum's rush.

While we were blown away by the Celtic stuff - who knew! - the Indiana Jonses seem much more preoccupied with findings that are much younger, like this beautiful Turkish vase.

And this darling little pipe.

But for our money, the best discovery was the skeleton of a man from the late 15th century, who was buried with a change purse of sorts containing 180 coins. Unfortunately, the workers put a pickaxe through his skull when they happened on him, but the rest of him is in pretty good shape, and is currently chilling in a big paper bag. That's his femur. He was a big guy, at least in 15th century terms.

So the next time you feel cheated because your favorite soaking hole is closed, just remember: It may be because there are lots of really cool people neck deep in it, working to make sure we can fully appreciate its awesome, gassy majesty.