Well construction (Bad Bocklet)

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Bad Bockleter fountain construction: on the left the bath house, in the middle the fountain temple, on the right the hall construction (reading room)
The central fountain temple in Bad Bockleter Brunnenbau
Back of the well construction: on the left the hall building, in the middle the well temple, on the right the bath house
Dedication above the well temple
Former square fountain
View into the hall (reading room)

The well construction in Bad Bocklet was built in 1787 by Johann Philipp Geigel . It consists of two single-storey building wings with mansard hipped roofs connected by an open peristyle . The well construction is the most important listed spa building of the Bavarian state spa Bad Bocklet and, as part of the Würzburg prince-bishop's spa, the most important building on the market . It is registered in the Bavarian list of monuments under the number D-6-72-112-5.

Historical development

In 1787, the Würzburg prince-bishop Franz Ludwig von Erthal (1730–1795) had an early classical temple-like structure built over the newly built Bockleter fountain by his court building officer, the master builder Johann Philipp Geigel (1731–1800) .

Discovery of the steel source

The prehistory began in 1724, when Johann-Georg Schöppner († 1727), pastor in Aschach , from Unterweißbrunn - today a district of Bischofsheim an der Rhön - discovered a spring on a walk that soon turned out to be rich in iron and therefore a steel spring was called. During the next visit of his Prince-Bishop Christoph Franz von Hutten (1673–1729), the pastor made his superior and sovereign aware of the mineral spring . The prince-bishop commissioned a year later its chief architect, the artillery - engineer Balthasar Neumann (1687-1753), whose area of responsibility and the wells belonged to the new source take to make and promote the development of the village. To commemorate the hour of birth of the princely court bath that developed from it and today the Bavarian state bath, the spring was only later named Balthasar-Neumann-Quelle .

Construction of the well

More than six decades passed before Prince-Bishop Franz Ludwig von Erthal finally commissioned his court architect Geigel to build a stately fountain with an adjoining bath and hall. The first princely spa buildings and a small spa garden in the form of an episcopal miter had been built since 1760 , because Bad Bocklet had become a popular summer retreat for Würzburg canons , prelates and court officials and at that time even attracted more guests than Bad Kissingen .

In the south of the spa garden, “only about 600 steps across from the Fürstenbau [on the north side]”, the well was built as a “single-storey mansard roof in a triclinic arrangement with an open central peristyle as a fountain hall” . Strictly speaking, there are two individual buildings oriented from north to south, on the east side the bath house "with 14 very cute and tastefully furnished bathrooms" and on the west side the hall building "for dance and conversation" , on its northern entrance to the spa garden through one Well temple connected. The roof of the central fountain temple, which is "50 feet long and 42 feet wide" (approximately 15.25 × 12.80 meters) and on the front of which the golden inscription "Built for the best of suffering mankind in 1787" can be read , is supported by two rows with six columns each in Tuscan order . Through this row of columns, "the eye is presented with a very beautiful view of the lush Wiesenthal with its magnificent greenery, in whose distant background the forest-covered Altenberg rises" .

In the recessed center of the newly built fountain temple - instead of today's ground-level round fountain - “a square fountain basin, from which an elongated stone fountain box previously rises with an ornamental light yellow top on which the inscription could be read: Discovered under Franz Christoph [von Hutten] 1727. Recorded under Philipp Karl [von Greiffenclau zu Vollrads] 1754. Called by Adam Friedrich [von Seinsheim] 1766. According to his sources, divided under Franz Ludwig [von Erthal] 1788. “ Directly before the Well temple is still today a large sand place, which in the 18th century already served as a spa area “both when drinking the fountain for a walk, and for the rest of the day as a meeting point for spa guests” .

Todays use

The well construction is still used today in its original purpose. The large room on the ground floor of the western hall building is now designated as a reading room, is equipped with stands for the latest newspapers and magazines as well as small desks and is also used for occasional chamber and piano concerts ; the other rooms are used as conference rooms.

literature

  • Johann Spindler: Bocklet and its healing springs , 1818, page 53 ( digitalized )

Web links

Commons : Brunnenbau Bad Bocklet  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Conradus J. Haus: Bocklet und seine Heilquellen , 1831, page 3 ( digitized version )
  2. ^ Tilmann Breuer : Franconia. The administrative districts of Upper Franconia, Middle Franconia and Lower Franconia , Volume 1, Deutscher Kunstverlag, 1999, page 68
  3. ↑ Ferdinand Kirchgener: The Bocklet steel bath near Kissingen , 1859, page 41 ( digitized version )
  4. ↑ Johann E. Wetzler: Description of the Gesundbrunnen and baths Wipfeld, Kissingen, Bocklet and Brückenau , 1821, page 143 ( digitized version )
  5. ↑ Conradus J. Haus: Bocklet und seine Heilquellen , 1831, page 3 ( digitized version )

Coordinates: 50 ° 15 ′ 51.13 "  N , 10 ° 4 ′ 40.07"  E