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THE NASCENCE OF THE RESORT
Pärnu enjoyed the making of a resort on the waterfront facing south to the shallow bay due to its favourable location in the immediate proximity to its sandy beaches. Bathing in the sea for health reasons was the original treatment practised at the beginning of the 19th century. Later, sea and peat mud was discovered in the area. An establishment that provided visitors with heated seawater baths was opened in 1838. That year is considered the beginning of the resort of Pärnu.
The Resort after the Establishment of the Republic of Estonia
The town became a booming construction site: numerous boarding houses, villas, tourist homes, and hotels were put up to accommodate summer guests, cafes and restaurants were opened to cater for them, and sports facilities, casinos, and other leisure attractions were erected. Having attained the height of its fame by the end of the 1930s, the resort of Pärnu like the rest of Estonia succumbed to occupation of foreign powers and subsequent devastation by World War II that undermined the development of the spa at its roots.
The Resort in the Soviet Period
In 1944, restoration of the resort that had been ruined in the war began. Administratively, the sanatoria of the Soviet period were owned by trade unions, then by the Ministry of Health, and then again by trade unions. The number of treatment vouchers, including those of the sanatoria of Pärnu, apportioned to Estonian people was determined under all-Union distribution schemes. The responsibility for distribution of vouchers rested with local trade unions, subject to prescriptions by physicians.
The Health Resort of Newly Independent Estonia
After Estonia regained its independence in 1991, the system of sanatoria that used to be administered by trade unions fell apart. The steady influx of patients reduced to a trickle. Some buildings were returned to former owners under restitution; some of them were turned over to municipal ownership.
Besides treatment facilities, local authorities, cultural establishments, companies engaged in hotel, catering and entertainment industry as well as citizens of the town have significantly contributed to upholding the image of the resort. Everyone gives a hand to take care of the beach, parks and boulevards. Townspeople have taken to renovating their houses and planting flower gardens, the general atmosphere of the town has improved a lot over the past years.
The Resort and Scientific Research
The successful development of a spa is inextricably linked to respective research effort. Scientific research traces back to the work by the Professor of Chemistry at the University of Tartu F. Goebel “Das Seebad bei Pernau, an der Ostsee”, which was published in 1844. The author, having resorted to the restorative power of the seawater, presents data on chemical substances in the Pärnu Bay, the treatment provided in the spa, good natural conditions and favourable geographical location of Pärnu.
In 1957, the Department of Balneology of the Institute of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, later Pärnu Institute of Balneology and Rehabilitation Treatment, was established on the basis of the Estonia sanatorium and studied natural medicinal substances and many topical issues of spa treatment.
Since 2002, balneology has been dealt with at the Pärnu College of the University of Tartu.
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