Bathhouses have appeared in Russia a long time. Even in the charter of Prince Vladimir bathhouses are referred to as institutions for the lower, poorer sections of society. In those days, bathhouses were built everywhere, all over Russia.
Classical Russian bathhouse - is a building consisting of two rooms: a dressing room and sudatorium room. In the sudatorium room installed wood stove - the heater. Rest rooms, as such, did not exist at that time. Namely the process of evaporation is a continuous alternation of actual evaporation and cooling water from the creek, jumping into the river or snow.
The initial design the Russian bathhouse did not include chimney and the smoke went through the special sudatorium’s window. This was called "sweating black."
First, such a bathhouse properly heat throughly, then stop heating, sudatorium room, ventilated, closed all windows and doors and spraying water on the stones of the oven - sweating. In the bathhouse "black" created a unique flavor, "Russian spirit", which was formed due to smoke from the heater on the wooden wall and loft doubles.
Somewhat later, after the unification of the oven- heater and chimney, there was a traditional "white" bathhouse, which is due to its convenience is the most common and popular today in most of the CIS.
Many people do not distinguish between a Russian bathhouse and Finnish sauna, but in fact the difference between them - is enormous. The two most obvious differences are the temperature and humidity. In real Russian bathhouse temperature hovers around 60-75 degrees, and in the sauna can reach up to 140. Humidity is higher than in the bath - 60 per cent, against 5-10 in the sauna.
Today the Russian bathhouse is available not only in rural areas, but even in the centers of large cities. Woodburning heaters are successfully replaced by gas or electric, and rivers and snow - modern swimming-pool.
The only attributes of Russian bathhouse were constant: tub with water, a gang of spray water on the stones of the oven and sweet birch twigs, which has medicinal properties.