Mud treatment helped shape Haapsalu, museum head says

Haapsalu has offered mud treatment for 201 years, a tradition that helped shape the city’s buildings and development, ERR reported.

Anton Pärn, head of the Haapsalu and Lääne County museums, told the television programme Ringvaade that doctor Carl Abraham Hunnius was among the first to draw greater attention to the healing properties of local mud after arriving in Haapsalu as a young man.

According to a legend, Hunnius saw local people and coastal fishermen applying mud to their joints. Pärn said mud treatment was known in earlier times, but was a fresh and innovative idea in the Baltic region at the time.

The treatment tradition developed alongside other medical services, with pharmacists, doctors and merchants contributing to the establishment of mud-treatment facilities. Pärn said the practice was both a health-related activity and a profitable business.

Mud treatment attracted holidaymakers to Haapsalu, increasing demand for accommodation and other buildings. Pärn said that about two-thirds of the city’s main street was built over roughly 100 years as the town developed, with trains and steamships bringing visitors.

Mud treatment is still used in Haapsalu. Spa manager Küllike Allmäe said it may help with lower back pain, complaints caused by overexertion, and joint and musculoskeletal problems.