Alte Maxquelle (Bad Dürkheim)

Alte Maxquelle
	Well house from the outside
place	Bad Dürkheim
country	Germany
use	Spa operation, salt production
construction time	1856-1859
Architectural style	Well house
Coordinates
location	Coordinates: 49 ° 27 '50.5 " N , 8 ° 10' 2.6" E 49 ° 27 '50.5 " N , 8 ° 10' 2.6" E

Well house, inside

The Alte Maxquelle in Bad Dürkheim , Rhineland-Palatinate , is a mineral spring with the highest arsenic content in Germany and the second highest in the world.

history

Salt springs have been known in Dürkheim since 1338 . the industrial production of salt began by converting a building of the abolished Benedictine convent Schönfeld into a salt works . By the end of the 18th century, a total of 6 graduation towers for salt extraction were built in the place , which were fed from 7 brine springs. As a result of the revolutionary events and the occupation of the left bank of the Rhine by the French, the Dürkheim salt production almost came to a standstill. When Dürkheim became part of the Rhine Palatinate and the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1816 , the saltworks were neglected and hardly profitable. In order to promote the economic recovery of the bleeding region, Bavaria nevertheless decided to reactivate salt production in Dürkheim. Plans were also implemented to operate a saltwater pool, which is why King Ludwig I had today's graduation tower built in 1847 and gave the community the title of saltwater pool.

As a result of the increase in the spa business and efficient salt production, the 7 old mineral springs in Dürkheim were no longer sufficient and the decision was made to drill deeply. As part of these efforts, the Alte Maxquelle was discovered on the northern edge of the village , which was opened up from 1856 to 1859 and built over with a well house. It was named after the then sovereign, King Maximilian II of Bavaria, is 364 m deep and had a higher salt content than the springs previously used in Dürkheim. From then on, the graduation house was operated with her and brine was extracted from the water for salt production and bathing.

The source of arsenic

From 1904 the community was allowed to call itself Bad Dürkheim, which it owes mainly to the high quality mineral water of the Alte Maxquelle . During an initial analysis (1860/61) by the chemist Robert Wilhelm Bunsen and the physicist Gustav Robert Kirchhoff , both discovered the new elements cesium and rubidium in the Dürkheim water by means of spectral analysis . Since the water sample was stale, however, one overlooked an important component that had settled on the bottom. It was not until 1906 that the chemist Erich Ebler found a very high arsenic content in the water of the Maxquelle , in the form of 18 mg arsenic trioxide per liter. It turned out that it was the mineral spring with the highest arsenic content in Germany and the second highest in the world.

This fact has been extensively marketed. The spa business in Bad Dürkheim experienced a boom and the spring water began to be bottled for sale and dispatch before the First World War. It achieved great fame as a medicinal drink and medicinal bath. It was used in particular for anemia , leukemia , rickets, but also for skin diseases and for the prevention of tuberculosis . In 1912, Professor Erich Harnack listed numerous additional indications in his book “Pharmacological and therapeutic information about the Maxquelle, the arsenic source of the Bad Dürkheim” .

Due to the healing successes, the spring remained the main therapeutic agent in Bad Dürkheim until the mid-1950s; As of 1913, salt production had ceased completely and the water was only used therapeutically for the graduation tower, for baths and as a medicinal drink. Gradually, however, doubts arose as to whether, in addition to the undisputed medicinal effect, the high arsenic concentration would also cause damage to health. This is now scientifically proven.

Alternatively, the Fronmühl spring was drilled near the Bad Dürkheim saltworks in 1963 and the Neue Maxquelle in the Bad Dürkheim spa gardens in 1971 . Both are also salty. but contains much less arsenic. Despite its lower arsenic content, the mineral water used for the cure and graduation house has to be de-arsenic today.

The Alte Maxquelle is currently closed (2013), but completely preserved with the well house . It is located in the Maxbrunnenstrasse named after her .

literature

Erich Harnack : Pharmacological and therapeutic information about the Maxquelle, arsenic source of the Bad Dürkheim , Wiesbaden, 1912; Digital scan of the font

Ronald Burger: The Maxquelle, Dürkheim's famous mineral spring, its connection with Pollichia and its significance for science , Pollichia -Kurier, Volume 28 (2012), No. 1, pages 6-11

Web links

gallery

Advertisement, around 1910
Title page of the text by Professor Erich Harnack , 1912

Individual evidence

^ Johann Goswin Widder : Attempt of a complete geographical-historical description of the Kurfürstl. Pfalz am Rheine , Volume 2, p. 322, Frankfurt, 1786; (Digital scan)

↑ Pfalzlexikon web portal , keyword: Saline ( Memento of the original from October 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2
↑ Otto Ewich: Practical Handbook about the most excellent healing springs and Curorte , Berlin, 1862, page 346; Digital scan
↑ F. Hahn: Erich Ebler zum Gedächtnis , Angewandte Chemie, 35th year, No. 19, 1922, pp. 109–116, doi : 10.1002 / anie.19220351902
↑ Jean Schäffer: The therapy of skin and venereal diseases , Berlin, 1921, p. 105; (Detail scan)
↑ Pollichia (Palatinate Association for Natural History and Nature Conservation), Mitteilungen 1969, page 88

[1] Johann Goswin Widder : Attempt of a complete geographical-historical description of the Kurfürstl. Pfalz am Rheine , Volume 2, p. 322, Frankfurt, 1786; (Digital scan)