List of the sources of the thermal baths in Baden

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The list of springs in the Baden thermal baths names all thermal springs in Baden and Ennetbaden in the canton of Aargau . Water with a high mineral content emerges from these and has been used in Baden's thermal baths for over two millennia . There are a total of 21 sources, 18 of them in the “Big Baths” of Baden and three in the “Small Baths” of Ennetbaden. Currently (2017) three sources are not used.

All springs are located on both sides of the Limmat River in an area that extends 180 meters in a west-east direction and 50 meters in a north-south direction. They form a coherent system based on the principle of communicating tubes : If one source is regulated or a new outlet is created, this has an impact on the performance of all other sources. In the worst case, changes to the source catchments and interventions in the rock layers below can lead to the drying up of all sources. For this reason, bulk quantities , water levels, discharge levels, the ownership and use rights in one of the 1844 Canton Government adopted Decree set legally binding. Since then, measurements have been carried out regularly (monthly or quarterly). The decree was supplemented in 2016 by a usage plan approved by the Grand Council .

Overview

Overview map of the spa district with the location of the springs (2017)
No. on
card		 Source name place Outlet
height		 Shaft
depth		 Year of the
source version
01 Big hot stone to bathe 354.18 m 03.80 m before 1451
02 Little hot stone to bathe 354.31 m 03.65 m before 1817
03 St. Verena spring to bathe 354.17 m 02.45 m before 1489
04th Waldhutquelle to bathe 354.47 m 04.20 m before 1578
05 Staadhof boiler source to bathe 353.75 m 07.89 m before 1578
06th Small spring in the Staadhof to bathe 350.28 m 07.49 m before 1578
07th Source of the Limmat to bathe 352.86 m 09.00 m 1828
08th Backyard spring to bathe 352.93 m 02.73 m before 1578
09 Widchenquelle to bathe k. A. k. A. 1959
10 Carola spring to bathe 352.62 m k. A. 1906
11 Bear Kettle Spring to bathe 354.24 m 10.74 m before 1578
12 Verenahofquelle to bathe 355.91 m 09.09 m 1844
13 Source in the bear dependence to bathe k. A. k. A. 1837
14th Source of paradise to bathe 355.75 m 08.19 m before 1553
15th Ox-cauldron spring to bathe 355.52 m 03.54 m before 1553
16 Ox Street Spring to bathe 356.14 m 03.54 m before 1817
17th New source in the ox branch to bathe 355.46 m 02.25 m 1843
18th Cold spring in the Limmathofdependance to bathe k. A. k. A. 1837
19th General source Ennetbaden 351.22 m 09.47 m before 1578
20th Adlerquelle Ennetbaden 350.96 m 09.34 m before 1578
21st Swan spring Ennetbaden 359.66 m 34.95 m 1844

The data refer to measurements in 1947. It should be noted that the Adlerquelle, the Cold Spring in the Limmathofdependance and the spring in the Bärendependance are no longer used today.

Sources in Baden

Big hot stone

The Grosse Heisse Stein is located in the middle of the central Kurplatz. It got its name from a mighty pentagonal stone slab that covers the mouth of the spring. It is the most powerful, the most abundant in water and probably also the oldest source used in Baden. A use could already be proven during Roman times . In 1451 or 1452, Felix Hemmerlin reported in the Tractatus de balneis naturalibus about a restoration that had been carried out in 1420. At that time, workers stumbled upon ancient walls and found Roman coins made of gold, silver, copper and brass, as well as an idol carved from alabaster , which allegedly represented Emperor Augustus . In 1967 the source shaft had to be repaired. Two bronze casseroles, two broken handles with dedicatory inscriptions, two silver denarii and around 300 copper coins were found in the deposits .

While the stone slab is at the same height as the square today, it originally rose above the floor at seat height. When the Kurplatz was leveled in 1844, they were chiseled off by about half. Because of the weight and size of the stone, the spring is rarely opened for maintenance. In numerous historical travel reports and balneological writings, the Grosse Heisse Stein is primarily mentioned, which is why it was also referred to as the "main source". The diameter of 1.50 m is still the largest of all springs today. The source shaft is lined with 50 to 60 cm wide granite blocks . The shaft walls widen conically about half a meter above the source . The source base is covered with a 20 to 30 cm high layer of quartz sand .

Little hot stone

Immediately next to the large hot stone is its smaller counterpart. Although older literature (for example Heinrich Gundelfingen 1489) sometimes mentions a double source, the Little Hot Stone is a separate source. Once it was also covered by a stone slab. From 1839 the water was fed directly to the Great Hot Stone, and since 1944 it has flowed into the distributor next to it. The source shaft is lined vertically with cuboids to a depth of 2.80 m in order to then expand into a chimney. The quartz sand layer is about 15 to 20 cm high.

St. Verena spring

The Verena spring, first mentioned by name by Gundelfingen in 1489, was once located right next to the Verenabad, an open bathing pool for less well-off spa guests. In the Middle Ages, the spring was considered to be particularly beneficial for infertility , which is why it was often sought out by women of higher rank. It is named after Saint Verena , the patroness of conjugal love. The water entered the basin through an approximately 20 cm wide, round opening in a granite slab. For this reason, the name "Verenaloch" was popularly known. After the Verenabad was abandoned in 1840, the spring was redrawn four years later. The shaft was built with bricks and a small spring house designed by Joseph Caspar Jeuch was built over it . This had to be removed again in 1863 at the request of the pushers. Since then, the source has been about one meter below the level of the Kurplatz. In 1905 a new version took place.

Waldhutquelle

The forest hat spring, first mentioned by Heinrich Pantaleon in 1578, is one of the oldest known springs, although the origin of the name is unknown. Several smaller, unmounted veins gushed out in a narrow side street between the inns half moon and sun. At the beginning of the 19th century the veins poured into a common collector. In 1850, the then three source veins were combined in a single, brick-walled version, and in 1922 it was renovated. Today the Wälderhutquelle is under a stone slab in front of the entrance to the Hotel Verenahof .

Staadhof boiler source

In 1578 Pantaleon described that the spring poured directly into a bathing pool. In 1815, various Roman antiquities were found during renovation work, including fragments of marble slabs, lead water pipes and signet rings. In the spring, the spring was rebuilt from bricks, and several Roman mosaic stones and coins came to light. In 1936 the spring was set in stoneware , surrounded by clinker brick and covered with a glass bell.

Small spring in the Staadhof

The Kleine Quelle, first mentioned by Pantaleon in 1578, rises a few meters from the banks of the Limmat. Their water flowed into a bath on the ground floor of an outbuilding of the “Staadhof” inn. From around 1840 the spring supplied a steam bath . It has been accessible in a small shaft since 1936.

Source of the Limmat

The Limmat spring, located directly on the riverbank, is one of the oldest known springs. Gundelfingen first mentioned it in 1489. It used to pour directly into the river. In 1789 Hans Rudolf Maurer reported that there were "a thousand openings" around eight feet from which the water emerged. David Hess wrote in Die Badenfahrt in 1818 that the landlord of the neighboring Staadhof had wanted to get hold of the source for a long time, but this failed due to the objection of the other source owners. In 1825, the Aargau cantonal government declared the spring to be state property and in the winter of 1828/29 - at an extremely low river level - had a shaft drilled that reached 3.60 m below the river bed. The shaft was lined with Mägenwil shell limestone and lined inside with bricks. A tower-like rotunda rose above it . When water losses occurred at the beginning of the 20th century, a new version was carried out. In 1904 the tower and shaft were completely removed and the spring exposed. A foundation that protruded far out into the river was laid around the exit point and the contact point was sealed with a wide wooden grate and a lead plate placed over it. A wreath of limestone blocks was erected on top of it, from which a 15 to 30 cm high copper pipe rises up to the source tower.

Backyard spring

The Hinterhofquelle has always been one of the most important springs in Baden (first mentioned in 1578 by Pantaleon). It got its name from the "Hinterhof", one of the most renowned inns. Like the Great Hot Stone, it was covered with a mighty stone slab in the later Middle Ages. Renovations are documented for the years 1422, 1578 and 1633. When the stone slab was removed for the first time in over 140 years in 1825, the underside of the stone was covered with 14.5 pounds of sulfur . Around 1870 the spring came to rest in the basement of the newly built Hotel Bären , where it was completely walled in and has only been accessible through a side opening ever since.

Widchenquelle

At the end of the 13th century there was a pavilion-like private bath that was reserved for Habsburg dignitaries. This simple bathing house (mentioned in a document as "beslozen Bad ze Baden") was later expanded into the so-called "Widchenhäuschen" and finally integrated into the later Hotel Bären in the 15th century. In January 1959, a new spring was discovered during construction work in the basement, which was presumably already in use during Roman times, whereupon it was named after the medieval building that preceded it.

Carola spring

The Carola spring was discovered in 1906 while cleaning the drain of the Bären-Kesselquelle. Thereupon it received no actual version with a source stick. Instead, they were walled up in a container, from which a pipe leads directly to a reservoir.

Bear Kettle Spring

Pantaleon named the Bären-Kesselquelle in his report from 1578. There were new versions in 1852 and 1860, but in 1863 it dried up temporarily, after which it was allowed to be pumped out. Another revision followed in 1908, combined with a thorough investigation. According to this, the source base consists of Nagelfluh , where the thermal water gushes out of four crevices. The gaps were exposed at that time, while the remaining openings were sealed and the body of the socket was concreted over. The stoneware riser protrudes about 70 cm from the ground. The amount of effusion has fallen sharply since the neighboring Carola spring was set up.

Verenahofquelle

The Verenahof spring under the Hotel Verenahof was opened up by drilling on March 5, 1844 , and the spring socket that was then built was made of ashlar. Since the work had been carried out too hastily at the time, the source had to be redrawn two years later. In 1903/04 major repairs were carried out. Today the source is in its own room in the hotel's underground bath floor.

Source in the bear dependence

In 1837 a source is mentioned for the first time in the dependance of the Hotel Bären. At that time thermal water was encountered when digging the cellar, and the spring was drawn up three years later. Since the water was significantly cooler (21.5 ° C), it was led under the street into the main hotel building to make the hot water there more bearable. Before 1871 the source seems to have been covered again.

Source of paradise

In 1553, Conrad Gessner was the first to describe the paradise spring under today's Hotel Ochsen . He called it "deep spring" because one had to "climb many steps down to it". It is said to have looked like a deep crater with a fountain of water. In 1578 Pantaleon wrote that the spring was called "hell" because of its deep location. It is possible that later generations changed the unpopular name into the opposite "paradise". In 1859 the spring was redesigned with bricks and deepened. The current version from 1908 is made of stoneware and has a wooden lid.

Ox-cauldron spring

Also in 1553 Gessner mentioned the Kesselquelle, which contains little sulfur but a lot of alum . While Pantaleon confirmed this, this particular property is no longer mentioned in later authors. In 1859 the source was made with bricks.

Ox Street Spring

The source is recorded for the first time on the official pool plan drawn up by F. Leemann in 1817. While it was right next to the road at the Hotel Ochsen at the time, it is now below it. After the spring had become less productive, it was redesigned with bricks in 1844. The frame lies in a conglomerate of gravel and marl that is very hard and full of holes.

New source in the ox branch

While digging the foundation for the new branch of the Hotel Ochsen, construction workers happened upon this spring on September 18, 1843. It was caught, but only provided small amounts of thermal water. When interfering with other sources, it dried up several times. For example, no water flowed for the whole of 1944.

Cold spring in the Limmathofdependance

The spring in the branch of the Hotel Limmathof, which is no longer used today, had no actual version. Instead, the water flowed up from below at an inner building wall. As with the spring in the Bärendependance, the water is significantly cooler (21.5 ° C) and was used to lower the temperature of the water in the Limmathof.

Sources in Ennetbaden

General source

The general source is the oldest on the Ennetbaden side; it was first mentioned in 1578 by Heinrich Pantaleon. In addition to the main spring, there were smaller, unmounted side arteries, the water of which escaped into the public baths there. When the French troops withdrew from Baden in 1799 after the Second Battle of Zurich , they clogged the general spring so that no thermal water flowed for around twelve hours. Therefore, a new source version was created in the same year. Further revisions were made in 1850 and again in 1859, when the secondary arteries were combined with the main source. In 1944/45 the previous wooden distributor ring was replaced by one made of gneiss cuboids. The well shaft has a wall thickness of 50 cm and is made of solid red bricks.

Adlerquelle

On June 5, 1844, the Adler spring was opened up by drilling under the former “Adler” inn in Ennetbaden. The upper half of the borehole was captured using spruce trunks with a diameter of around 12 cm. The source was insignificant from the start and only had an effusion rate of about 0.5 l / min. Since the thermal water at the lower end of the borehole mixed with ordinary water, the mineral content was also slightly lower. Because of its insufficient productivity, the spring is no longer used.

Swan spring

The swan spring was discovered on March 30, 1844 by drilling. While building the foundations of a new building (today's Hotel Schwanen ), workers came across traces of thermal water. They continued digging and used a drill from a depth of nine meters. When clearing away the rubble and mud, a very rich spring broke out. The drilling unbalanced the sensitive source system: the other sources almost dried up and the previous state could only be restored by inserting a shutter. The cantonal government then banned further private drilling and issued a binding decree .

A 23-meter-long pipe made of cast iron was sunk in the mounting of the Schwanenquelle and surrounded on the outside with cement and brickwork. The bottom section, about six meters long, however, was not cased. The work had been carried out carelessly, so that alluvial material blocked the uncased part of the borehole. The spring catchment had to be renewed as early as 1856, with a double sheet pile wall made of pine wood. The same problems emerged again, which made it necessary to work on the version again in 1871. In the winter of 1920/21 the Schwanenquelle was completely redesigned. A concreted inspection shaft with a diameter of 2 meters and a depth of 16 meters was built to make the source base more accessible. Since then, the water has risen in a pipe made of stone pull, which is clad with cement pipes. Since the amount of effusion was still unsatisfactory, the area surrounding the shaft was sealed with cement injections. In 1943 a steel pipe was driven into the depths of the 1921 stoneware pipe, which also penetrates the lowest part of the borehole.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Kurt Wiederkehr, Pierre-Alain Sydler: The thermal springs of Baden: Criteria for the monitoring installations and operating experience . In: Bulletin of the Swiss Association. Petroleum geologists and engineers . tape 53 . Tipografia Poncioni, Losone 1987, p. 19-20 .
  2. ↑ Cantonal land use plan for the protection of the thermal springs in Baden and Ennetbaden. (PDF, 173 kB) In: Collection of Laws. Canton Aargau, October 25, 2016, accessed April 5, 2017 .
  3. ↑ a b Münzel: The thermal baths of Baden. P. 48.
  4. ^ Münzel: The thermal baths of Baden. Pp. 44-45.
  5. ↑ a b Münzel: The thermal baths of Baden. Pp. 51-53.
  6. ^ Hugo W. Doppler: The coin finds from the source "Grosser Heisser Stein" in Baden. (PDF, 934 KB) Swiss Numismatic Review, 2007, pp. 91–116 , accessed on March 27, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Hans Rudolf Wiedemer: The Roman thermal baths of Baden - Aquae Helveticae . In: Baden New Years Papers . tape 44 . Buchdruckerei AG, Baden 1969, p. 51-54 .
  8. ^ Münzel: The thermal baths of Baden. P. 53.
  9. ^ Münzel: The thermal baths of Baden. P. 54.
  10. ↑ a b c Münzel: The baths of Baden. P. 55.
  11. ^ Münzel: The thermal baths of Baden. Pp. 54-55.
  12. ^ Münzel: The thermal baths of Baden. Pp. 53-54.
  13. ↑ a b c Münzel: The baths of Baden. P.56.
  14. ↑ Public and private baths. (PDF, 253 kB) (No longer available online.) Verenahof AG, archived from the original on April 19, 2017 ; Retrieved April 6, 2017 . 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@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.verenahof.ch
  15. ↑ Chronicle of the year . In: Baden New Years Papers . tape 36 . Baden-Verlag, Baden 1961, p. 108 .
  16. ↑ a b c Münzel: The baths of Baden. P. 57.
  17. ^ Münzel: The thermal baths of Baden. Pp. 56-57.
  18. ^ Münzel: The thermal baths of Baden. Pp. 55-56.
  19. ^ Münzel: The thermal baths of Baden. Pp. 57-58.
  20. ↑ a b Münzel: The thermal baths of Baden. P. 50.
  21. ↑ a b c Münzel: The baths of Baden. Pp. 50-51.
  22. ↑ Fabian Furter, Bruno Meier , Andrea Schaer, Ruth Wiederkehr: Stadtgeschichte Baden . here + now , Baden 2015, ISBN 978-3-03919-341-7 , p. 67 .