Büdös is situated on the western border of Sântimbru on the 1100-1200 m high eastern slope of the Southern Harghita Mountains. It belongs to Csíkszentimre, hence its name. The area, which is rich in volcanic after-effects, has long been known in the surrounding settlements. Károly Benkő refers to the place in 1853: ‘...a wellhead at the brook Rege or Ravaszlik, originating from the foothills of the mountain Chihaj, is called stinky because it is here. biidössköves a helly’.
‘Like the sulphurous evaporation of the cave, this mineral water is used effectively by patients with cold and eye pain by steaming and washing,’ writes Mózes Vitos of the ‘Büdösi’ wine water and stink pit.
The development of the spa started in the 1920s, when a bath building was erected for the carbon dioxide gas flow called Süllögő by the shepherds, and the construction of the primitive accommodations started. After the dike, a six-bath warm bath is in operation. The development of the bath was halted and hindered by the inland and opencast mining of mercury ore (cinóber), which started in the 1970s. After the closure of the mine, construction started all over, which does not favour the image of the spa wedged between the pine forests.
After the change of regime, the building fever is increasing, but now there is no plan for settlement. In 2003, there were nearly 750 private buildings in the area of the bath, of different sizes and colours, advocating the tastes of people from different areas. Public utilities and the construction of a modern highway in line with today's needs would be a great boost in the spa area.
In Büdös there are only mofettas, two around the water spring and one next to the open-cast quarry built by János Duka. In the latter Outer Stink Pit, carbon dioxide gas was introduced from a nearby abandoned reservoir through a thick iron pipe. The hot bath does not work despite the fact that high-yield mineral water comes to the surface from abandoned mines and flows away unused. Several mineral water springs are known in the area of the spa, of which the sulphur water of the Eyewater Spring is used for the treatment of eye diseases. The Büdös wine water belongs to the Ca-Mg-HCO3 group of waters.
Source: Spas and health resorts of Szeklerland, ed.: Jánosi Csaba, Péter Éva, Herczeg Ágnes, Takács Edvárd, Ars Tropia Foundation, Csíki Hiker and Nature Conservation Association, B.K.L. Publishing House, Szombathely, 2005.
