Baden thermal baths

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View of the spa district on both sides of the Limmat (2005); Baden on the right, Ennetbaden on the left

The Baden thermal baths are the oldest known thermal springs in Switzerland . They are located in Baden and in neighboring Ennetbaden in the canton of Aargau , on both sides of a striking bend in the Limmat . At the intersection between the Swiss Plateau and the Folded Jura , the thermal water flows through layers of shell limestone and rises to the surface in the source area through fissures in the Keup layer above . Of the total of 21 springs, 18 are in Baden and three in Ennetbaden. The water has an average temperature of 46.6 ° C and has a particularly high proportion of calcium and sulfates . With a total mineralization of 4450 mg / l, it is the most mineral-rich in the entire country.

The Celts were the first to use the healing power of thermal water during the late La Tène period . At the beginning of the 1st century, the Romans built important thermal baths , in the immediate vicinity of which the small-town settlement Aquae Helveticae was built. It is possible that the bathing industry continued to exist in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages . Written sources about the baths have been around since the 13th century. During the rule of the Habsburgs and after the conquest of Aargau by the Confederates , Baden was one of the most important health resorts in Europe and was visited by numerous high-ranking people. Not least because of the baths, the confederates held their most important meetings here from 1416 .

The attraction began to wane from around 1500 and reached its first low point towards the end of the 18th century. In the 19th century, the baths of Baden experienced a heyday again when bathing cures became a mass phenomenon. Massive investments in hotels and bathing facilities increased the attractiveness and attracted a wealthy international audience during the Belle Époque . The decline began in World War I and accelerated from the 1950s. Baden missed out on modern developments and around the year 2000 the spa business came to an almost complete standstill.

In the historic spa district, the spa architecture of the 19th and early 20th centuries, which was influenced by classicism and historicism , predominates , while the Gothic and Baroque structures of the late Middle Ages and early modern times are only visible in traces. At the beginning of the 21st century, the area was in need of renovation. A revitalization project is to provide new impetus, including the construction of a thermal bath designed by the architect Mario Botta by 2021 .

location

Overview map of the spa district with the location of the springs (2017)

The spa district , as the area in the area of ​​the thermal springs is called, lies on both sides of the Limmat at an altitude of about 360  m above sea level. M. , with the city of Baden on the left and the municipality of Ennetbaden on the right bank (Ennetbaden belonged to Baden until 1819). The fast flowing Limmat, which is squeezed into a narrow river bed, comes from the south. In the spring area, it comes to the foot of the steeply towering “Goldwand”, which is partly planted with vines , where it changes its direction of flow and turns to the west.

The “Great Baths” of Baden, the western part of the bathing district, are located on a step on the inside of the narrow bend in the river. The Mättelipark delimits the area to the west, while a steep slope on the southwest side forms a natural border to the Haselfeld, which is around 20 meters higher. The Kurpark with the Kursaal and the Kurtheater Baden extends there . The “small baths” of Ennetbaden, the eastern part of the bathing district, consist of a row of houses along the river bank.

Two bridges cross the river. The Leaning Bridge , opened in 1874, has an incline of 7.5% to compensate for the nine-meter difference in altitude between the banks of Baden and the lower banks of the Ennetbaden. The Mercier footbridge has existed since 1968, named after the French bath masseur Henri Mercier, who was also active as a local historian.

geology

Thermal water minerals
Cations mg / l Anions mg / l
ammonium 0.78 fluoride 3.1
lithium 4.8 chloride 1185
sodium 720 bromide 2.5
potassium 663 Iodide 0.009
magnesium 99 nitrate <0.5
Calcium 503 Hydrogen carbonate 487
strontium 6.2 sulfate 1375
iron 0.013 Hydrogen phosphate 0.05
manganese 0.016 Hydrogen arsenate 0.1
copper <0.005 molybdenum <0.005
zinc <0.01
lead 0.002
aluminum 0.018

The thermal springs are among the best-researched in Switzerland. Until today it has not been possible to fully clarify where the water seeps away and comes to the surface again. Baden and Ennetbaden are at the intersection of the Swiss Plateau and the Jura , which is noticeable in the form of strong wrinkles . Dominating is the Lägern , a mountain range up to 866 m high , which extends from the banks of the Limmat for around ten kilometers in an easterly direction. The rock masses of these originate for the most part from the geological ages of the Jurassic and the Triassic . The latter is divided (from bottom to top) into layers of red sandstone , shell limestone and keuper .

In the spring area, the water-bearing shell limestone layer extends up to 28 meters below the surface. It is overlaid by impermeable Keuper and ice-age gravel . Due to the constant erosion of the Limmat and tectonic disturbances, the Keuper is strongly fissured in this area , so that the thermal water can escape despite the lack of shell limestone outcrops . This happens under high artesian pressure : on the Ennetbaden side, for example, the pressure level is ten meters above the water level of the Limmat. The sources 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. Changes to the source system and interventions in the Keuperschicht can have serious effects, in the worst case all sources drying up.

As far as we know today, Baden's thermal water is almost entirely rainwater that has remained in the ground for different lengths of time. Analyzes of radioactive isotopes indicate four components. The largest share is made up of water more than 1000 years old with minerals from evaporite rocks of the Middle Triassic. It comes mainly from the Jura to the west and reaches the crystalline basement through eastward trending thrust areas , where it rises again. It cannot be completely ruled out that some of this crystalline water comes from the Black Forest in the north . To do this, it would have to flow under the poorly permeable permocarbon trough in northern Switzerland . In addition, there is a few years old valley groundwater with a lower mineral content, fissure groundwater from shell limestone layers of the Müseren plateau on the western edge of the city and a small proportion of deep groundwater from granite layers several kilometers deep .

Features of thermal water

The amount of thermal water escaping is on average around 700 l / min, i.e. around one million liters per day. Occasionally fluctuations between 600 and 900 l / min can occur, but extreme values ​​of 540 and 980 l / min have also been measured. The amount of effusion is related to the amount of precipitation, at a time interval of about ten to eleven months. It should be noted that the amount of spring water fluctuates less than the amount of precipitation. Individual months with little or no precipitation therefore have less of an impact than prolonged dry and wet periods. The clear thermal water smells noticeably of hydrogen sulfide , although the odor intensity can vary depending on the source or pipe. On the other hand, the taste is not particularly characteristic.

The thermal water is characterized by a high total mineralization of 4450 mg / l and is considered to be the richest in minerals in Switzerland. The proportion of calcium and sulfates is particularly high . The high calcium content and the salt deposits formed during the oxidation of the source gases lead to significant sinter deposits in the area of ​​the sources and in all facilities that come into contact with the water . The mean temperature of the water is 46.6 ° C, with fluctuations between 45 and 49 ° C depending on the source. With a pH of 6.43, the water is slightly acidic. It has a positive general effect on the whole organism, especially on the vegetative nervous system . Spa cures are particularly suitable for rheumatic complaints, mechanical damage, certain neurological diseases and metabolic disorders .

There are 18 sources, two of them in Ennetbaden. Two springs in Baden and one in Ennetbaden are not used. All 21 springs are located in an area on both sides of the Limmat, which extends 180 meters in a west-east direction and 50 meters in a north-south direction. The most abundant spring is the Grosse Heisse Stein in the middle of the main square of the spa district, named after a mighty stone slab that covers the mouth of the spring. The source of the Limmat , which once flowed into the river, is taken directly on the river bank. In the Middle Ages, the St. Verena spring was considered to be particularly beneficial for infertility , which is why it is named after Saint Verena , the patroness of conjugal love. A special feature is the cold spring in the Limmathofdependance , which is no longer in use : its water is identical in composition to that of the other springs, but with a temperature of 21.5 ° C it is significantly cooler.

Architecture of the spa district

Hotel Verenahof

Due to its location on the inside of the Limmat bend and below an embankment, the Baden part of the spa district is isolated from the rest of the city from a settlement point of view. The buildings grouped around the Kurplatz, the Bäderstrasse and the Limmatpromenade are densely packed and partly interlocked. While the Gothic and Baroque buildings of the late Middle Ages and the early modern period are only there in traces, the classicist and historicist spa architecture of the 19th century predominates . Architectural reference points exist for the Ennetbaden part on the opposite bank of the river.

Kurplatz

Hotel flower

The Kurplatz is the center of the spa district on the Baden side and is characterized in particular by the three-storey Hotel Verenahof . After a new spring was found, it was built in 1844/45 over the foundation walls of two older hostels ("Zum Löwen" and "Zum Halbmond"), which date back to the middle of the 14th century. The strictly classical, of Joseph Caspar Jeuch designed building was extended by the demolition of the neighboring inn "Zur Sonne" in 1872 and received while a new main entrance in a risalitartig trained gantry . On the gable end decorated with volutes there is a statue of Verena , probably the work of the sculptor Robert Dorer . The hotel, which has been vacant since 2002, is to be completely gutted ; only the facades, roof and atria remain. The construction of a glass dome was planned, but the cantonal monument preservation authorities did not issue a permit.

Epiphany Chapel

Mentioned for the first time in 1421, the Hotel Blume is the only one that is still in operation today. The neo-renaissance style south wing is modeled on an Italian palazzo. It was given its present form in 1872 after a new building by Robert Moser , while the other classicist parts of the building date from around 1800. Inside there is an atrium with a glass roof and an allegorical mural. The Schweizerhof (called "Raben" until 1855) dates back to around 1300 and is therefore the oldest known inn in Baden. Around 1830 the previously existing late medieval semi-detached house was torn down and replaced by a simple Biedermeier building. In 1910 it was rebuilt and expanded in the style of the homeland .

Bäderstrasse

Shop facade of the Hotel Bären

The Dreikönigskapelle stands on a terrace at the northern end of Bäderstrasse . The building designed by Robert Moser was built in 1882 in the neo-Gothic style. Its forehead is designed as a gabled porch with laterally transverse annexes. The altarpiece in the choir is a work by Joseph Balmer from 1887 and depicts the Magi . The chapel replaced the previous Romanesque building from around 1100, a few meters north of it , which had been left to decay for decades and finally the park of the Grand Hotel had to give way. This luxury hotel between the north end of Bäderstrasse and the banks of the Limmat was opened in 1876, went bankrupt over six decades later and was blown up in 1944. Initially, its annex building, the Römerbad from 1860 , remained until it was finally demolished in 2017 to make room for Mario Botta's new thermal baths .

House "Three Confederates" with gate

The Hotel Bären , first mentioned in 1361 as a bathhouse , was completely rebuilt in 1569 after a fire. The tracts came to lie directly above the medieval bath vaults. In front of the north wing is a nine-axis front facade. The owner at the time had it built in 1881 so that his company could at least outwardly compete with the Grand Hotel. The mighty front is hierarchically structured by columns and, with its detailed decorations that thematize water and health, is one of the most outstanding examples of the Neo-Renaissance in Switzerland. The hotel, which has been vacant since 1987, is to be converted and connected to the Verenahof; the front will be preserved. The Hotel Ochsen , also newly built in 1569, is attached to the Bären . Its baroque exterior with a few Renaissance elements has been largely preserved to this day (apart from the late classicist entrance area). On the other side of the Bäderstrasse are two more simply designed buildings, the bear dependance and the ox dependance.

In 1826, shortly before the new Bäderstrasse was built, the "Tiergarten" and "Schröpfgaden" houses were torn down and replaced by the "Three Confederates" house. With its wide arched passage, it is modeled on a medieval city gate. Next to the gateway there has been a classicist fountain in the niche of a retaining wall since 1829. Made by Hieronymus Moser's workshop in Würenlos , it consists of an oval basin and a well in the shape of a column drum.

Just outside the historic spa district is the “Zum Schiff” house, built in 1834 by an unknown architect. The classicist building built on the steep slope facing the Limmat was for a time considered one of the most elegant hotels in Baden. In 1847 the banquet took place here on the occasion of the opening of Switzerland's first railway line. From 1928 to 2000 it was a sanatorium owned by the Swiss Accident Insurance Institute . The neighboring house “Zum Freihof” was also built in 1834 and was rebuilt by Joseph Caspar Jeuch in 1861/62. In 1890, the canton of Aargau took over the hotel and set up the public spa for the needy. Today, after several renovations, it is a private rehabilitation clinic. The two houses face the spa park , which separates the spa district from the city center. In the middle of the park is by Robert Moser Built in 1875 the Kursaal , which by the since 2002 Casino Grand Casino Baden is used.

Limmat promenade

Hotel Limmathof
Hotel Schwanen

The Limmatpromenade begins near the old town and runs along the left bank of the river to Kurplatz. Immediately to the north of the Leaning Bridge is the hall-like “ Municipal Inhalatorium ”. This single-storey, elongated building was built in the classicist style in 1835 and is divided into 13 axes by Tuscan sandstone pilasters. It was initially intended for drinking cures , but from 1851 it was also possible to bathe here. The bathing operation ended in 1987; since the subsequent complete renovation, the north part has contained the newly established bath archive. The very simple poor bathing establishment opposite dates from 1836.

Between the inhalatorium and the Mercier footbridge, the Hotel Limmathof shapes the silhouette of the spa district at a crucial point. The four-storey front facing the river with thirteen window axes, a hip roof and a distinctive transverse gable particularly contribute to this . The mighty-looking structure, kept in strict classical forms, was built in 1834/35. The terrace porch on the ground floor, added in 1910, was extended to the entire width of the front in 1965. The design language corresponds to that of a small villa that has been transferred to a large scale. The hall on the first floor is equipped with pompous neo-baroque stucco . A two-storey connecting bridge, built in 1846, leads across the street to the Limmathofdependance, which is also being built, with the “Goldener Schlüssel” restaurant.

Ennetbaden

The architecture in Ennetbaden is half urban and half rural. The Hotel Schwanen at Mercier-Steg was built in 1842/43 as a branch of a no longer existing hotel and was expanded in several stages to its present size by 1910. The show facade is a Biedermeier counterpart to the Limmathof on the other bank of the river. The four-storey building looks symmetrical at first glance, but reveals numerous irregularities that can be traced back to the structure of the previous buildings. The roof area is characterized by three distinctive two-story Art Nouveau cross gables. Hotel operations ended in 1976 and will be resumed at the end of 2017 after a 60 million franc renovation that also includes rental and owner-occupied apartments.

The hotel Hirschen to the north was replaced by a modern new building in 2009. The Hirschenplatz in between, which was once the center of the small baths, was also redesigned. The eye-catcher is a fountain designed by Karl Hügin in 1942 , which is composed of several thousand mosaic stones. The restored fountain previously stood inside the demolished hotel and represents a bathing scene.

history

Prehistoric use

People began to live in the region in the Mesolithic Age between 11,500 and 8,000 years ago, and more densely populated areas began in the later Neolithic 4,500 years ago. It is assumed that the open springs and their healing properties were already known to people at that time. Cultic acts such as ritual baths and purification ceremonies are also likely to have been performed. It has not yet been proven whether attempts were made to collect the sources during the Bronze Age . In the Kappelerhof district, half a kilometer west of the baths, a Celtic settlement was established during the Hallstatt period (approx. 800 BC) . Its inhabitants regularly visited the sources, as numerous found coins and ceramics from the late Latène period attest.

Roman thermal baths of Aquae Helveticae

After the Augustan Alpine campaigns , the Romans occupied 15 BC. The Swiss plateau. In today's Windisch , they set up a base that the Legio XIII Gemina expanded into the Vindonissa military camp from 14 AD . At the turn of the century, the Aquae Helveticae settlement was built five kilometers east of it on the Haselfeld . The first Roman construction work on the springs can also be traced around this time. In connection with the construction of larger thermal baths , extensive construction work will take place in the years 18 to 21; Another expansion followed between 29 and 33. Unstable ground in the northeastern part made extensive renovations and new buildings necessary around the year 56. The legionaries made good use of the thermal baths. Presumably they carried out most of the construction work themselves, because only the army had the necessary structural and architectural knowledge. The massive construction and the massive use of fired clay bricks , as they are typical for the Mediterranean area, also indicate this.

Tacitus writes in the Histories that the Legio XXI Rapax stationed in Vindonissa destroyed a nearby "built like a small town, its healing waters because of the much-visited bathing resort" in the year of the Fourth Emperor . It is very likely that he meant Aquae Helveticae. In fact, extensive traces of fire can be found on the Haselfeld and in Ennetbaden during this time. The thermal baths themselves do not seem to have been affected. The quickly rebuilt settlement developed into a prosperous place. In 101 the army withdrew from Vindonissa, but the lack of military customers had no effect. The thermal baths experienced their heyday in the 2nd and early 3rd centuries. Tourism formed the economic basis of the place, in addition, the location on the bridge over the Limmat promoted local industry and trade. Written sources about visitors are almost completely missing, so that one can only speculate about their origin. They left traces of their visit in the form of souvenirs that were found in various parts of the Roman Empire. These include in particular bronze knife sheath fittings by the craftsman Gemellianus , which were decorated with the place name.

The decline began during the imperial crisis of the 3rd century . Repeatedly broke through the Alemanni the Limes . In particular between 259 and 270 attacks and looting trains increased . Around 270 a fire destroyed a large part of Aquae Helveticae. The remaining population gradually gave up the settlement in the 4th century and withdrew to the area of ​​the baths. During this time, the construction of a defensive wall along the slope edge of the Haselfeld as well as repeated renovations of the bathing pools can be proven. Coin finds show that the sources were used until the 5th century and beyond.

Settlement development and change of rule

There are various indications that a bathing establishment also existed in the early Middle Ages . The glory of the Roman era was long gone and the buildings were in ruins, but it is believed that the late Roman basins were still in use. During the Merovingian and Carolingian rule the springs belonged to the royal estate . Less than a kilometer south of it, the future old town was formed at the narrow point between the Lägern and the Schlossberg . The development of two settlement centers in the immediate vicinity is due to different legal claims of the king and the regional nobility. The place name Baden, first mentioned around 1030 for the younger settlement core, is a derivative of the Latin Aquae . The thermal springs and the bathing activities were therefore important identification features.

Through territorialization , the baths came into the possession of the Lenzburger in the late 11th century . In their place came the Kyburgs in 1173 , which in turn were replaced by the Habsburgs in 1273 . During the rule of these noble families, the baths were significantly expanded and springs were rebuilt, which had not been maintained since Roman times. The settlement developed into one of the most important health resorts in Europe and increasingly resembled a small town. The construction of a wall and the Epiphany Chapel around 1100 also contributed to this. However, the wall served more as a demarcation and hardly offered any effective protection. Due to the number of springs, a distinction was made between the “large baths” on the left bank of the Limmat and the “small baths” on the right bank, first mentioned in 1347; the entire Bädersiedlung was also called Niederbaden. A ferry ran across the river.

Fire in the baths in 1444; Representation in the chronicle of Christoph Silberysen

Warlike events repeatedly interrupted the development. The baths have been the target of looting and arson by armies passing by several times . Troops from Zurich burned down the spa settlement on Christmas Eve 1351 after they had not succeeded in taking the city. In December 1375, an attack by the Guglers also caused great damage. During the Sempach War , Zürcher and Schwyzer plundered the baths again in July 1388. During the Old Zurich War , when Zurich allied itself with the Habsburgs against the rest of the Confederation , a group of mercenaries under the command of Hans von Rechberg tried to take the city on October 22, 1444. The mercenaries were pushed back, whereupon they plundered and burned the largely unprotected bath settlement.

Even under Habsburg rule, Baden established itself as a conference venue for arbitration negotiations. On the one hand, Stein Castle above the city was the seat of the central Habsburg archive at that time, and on the other hand, the spa settlement offered enough accommodation, amenities and amusements for visitors. The importance as a meeting place increased significantly after the conquest of Aargau by the Confederates in April and May 1415. From 1416, the delegates of the Eight Old Places met in Baden at least once a year for the daily statute . The most important transactions negotiated here concerned the annual accounts of the common lords , the subject areas conquered and administered together. The meetings took place in the town hall , while the baths often served as a meeting place for informal discussions.

Bathing culture and legal regulations

View of Baden in the Topographia Germaniae (1642), in front the bathing area

According to the social status of the visitors, a clear hierarchy of the accommodations and bathrooms emerged. Two bathing inns, which were built in the early 12th century, formed the top: the «Schinderhof», first mentioned in 1293 (referred to as «Hinterhof» since the early 16th century) and the «Hof nid dem Rain», first mentioned in 1361 (1467 in « Staadhof »renamed). Secular and clerical dignitaries and their entourage stayed in these stately homes . One step below were inns with their own springs (or a share of them), which were also allowed to offer private baths. The other inns, which only offered accommodation, were reserved for lower social classes. Your guests had to use the two public baths (Verenabad and outdoor pool). In all cases you had to bring your own bedding and food. Wealthy guests invited each other to banquets . Since 1377, the “zum Schlüssel” inn has been the only one to have the privilege of catering to walk-in customers and guests from other establishments. In the 16th century it could accommodate up to 700 guests at the same time.

Overview map of the large and small baths (around 1650)

While for the common people an ailment to be cured was usually the reason for a visit, the stays of high-ranking people were markedly representative. The course season, which ran from Easter to September, offered a good opportunity for negotiations and all sorts of pastimes in a relaxed atmosphere. Baden was considered a sophisticated fashion spa. Some women from well-to-do backgrounds had the right to go on an annual “Badenfahrt” in their marriage contract. After the Reformation , this clause was particularly popular in Zurich with its strict moral mandates, as magnificent clothes and jewelry could still be displayed in Catholic Baden. From the 14th to the 18th century it was common for landlords, the city of Baden and the daily statute to give so-called "bathing gifts" to particularly high-ranking guests in order to maintain relationships. This included money, but also ox and game for consumption.

The principle that the sovereigns granted all rights connected to the baths as fiefs gradually relaxed. Documents from 1376 and 1404 document for the first time the transfer of inns and springs into the free property of the hosts, who were now allowed to dispose of the thermal water themselves. This trend accelerated after the conquest of the Aargau. For example, the city of Baden took over the supervision of the public baths. In contrast, the backyard remained a federal fiefdom until the 18th century. Politically and legally, the spa settlement has always belonged to Baden, but special rules applied here that were enforced by pool servants. Guests were protected from access to their places of origin, and the governor of the county of Baden also granted them safe conduct. Only after the Badenfahrt could they be prosecuted again. Gambling , dancing and prostitution were permitted and subject to numerous regulations. Bathing courts ruled on violations of hygienic, moral and religious regulations. Only high-ranking personalities benefited from this special case law.

Attitudes towards begging gradually changed. In the Middle Ages it was considered a Christian virtue to give alms to those in need. Wealthy people could also organize "baths of the soul"; In other words, they paid for the accommodation as well as the care of the pool and the bathers. In this way they hoped for salvation in the hereafter. Begging in the 15th century was forbidden. According to an ordinance of 1498, the beggar bailiff was allowed to send the beggars away after two nights - if they only came to bathe, only after two weeks. Alms begged could be taken from them. Beginning in 1601, beggars and tramps could already be stopped and turned away at local customs offices. Hosts who repeatedly accommodated undesirable people were threatened with banishment from 1640 onwards. The situation hardly improved, so that Landvogt Franz Ludwig von Graffenried founded a Badarmenfonds in 1754, with which private donors ensured the material and medical care of needy bathers. With this measure the most obvious poverty gradually disappeared from the baths. With the appointment of the first official bath poor doctor in 1805, poor welfare was institutionalized.

Temporary loss of meaning

The outdoor pool around 1780

From around 1500 Baden's attraction began to wane. This was due to epidemics such as plague and syphilis , but also to changed moral concepts. The gender segregation, which had been in force since the 15th century, but had hardly been noticed until now, was enforced more strictly. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Zurich repeatedly issued bathing bans. This should bring actual or perceived debauchery under control. Usually the authorities only upheld the prohibitions for a short time. New medical findings raised doubts about the benefits of long-term cures. The affluent upper class increasingly turned to drinking cures , which were less time-consuming and localized. Because of the strong taste and the high temperature, the Baden water was not very suitable for this. Broad promenades, extensive parks, salons or large ballrooms, which were fashionable elsewhere, were missing in Baden. In the republican-federalist Confederation, there were no stately or aristocratic clients who could have ordered the extensive construction of new spa facilities.

The great baths around 1800

During the Thirty Years' War , foreign guests were largely absent. Even after that, they were only a small minority. Most of the wealthy guests came from the patriciate of the federal cities. After the cure, which they increasingly took in private rather than shared baths, they spent their leisure hours on the «Mätteli». On this meadow people met for games, entertainment and social exchange. The first theater in Switzerland was set up in 1675. In the Toggenburg War of 1712, Bern and Zurich took the city of Baden and then excluded the Catholic towns from co-rule in eastern Aargau. After that, the losers were no longer interested in continuing to meet here for meetings. As a result, the baths lost a wealthy and prestigious clientele.

In 1714, the peace negotiations at the end of the War of the Spanish Succession brought high-class audiences to Baden again for a short time. However, the baths could no longer match the splendor of the old days and decades of stagnation followed, during which the innkeepers hardly made any investments. The small baths, which have always attracted a rural and petty-bourgeois clientele and continued to be the destination of the common people, were less affected by this. There had been a swimming pool there since 1644, which was reserved for Jews . The low point was reached during the time of the Helvetic Republic : French occupation troops claimed the accommodation permanently for themselves and caused high revenue losses. The Staadhof alone had to accommodate around 4,000 soldiers between the spring of 1798 and the end of 1800 and suffered financial losses of around 5,000 guilders . Between the First and Second Battle of Zurich in 1799, the front line between the French and Austrians ran along the Limmat; all traffic between the large and small baths was interrupted.

Flowering in the 19th century

Postcard from Baden with the spa district (1904)

In 1803, the founding of the canton of Aargau led to a fundamentally new legal framework; the final overcoming of what was still a medieval ownership structure created economic incentives for modernization and expansion. In 1811 the Staadhof landlord was the first to have part of his buildings replaced with modern new buildings. Other hosts followed his example from the 1820s. The traffic conditions improved significantly: in 1818 a footbridge was built over the Limmat, the first river crossing at this point since Roman times. On the Bäderstrasse, built in 1827/28, carriages could comfortably reach the Great Baths. The same was made possible by the Badstrasse in Ennetbaden, which was built in the 1830s. In 1828/29 the canton had the Limmat spring taken, with whose spring water the poor baths opened in 1838 were operated. This made it possible to give up the public baths in the open air: in 1839 the outdoor pool disappeared, a year later the Verenabad (an open pool in Ennetbaden lasted until 1865). In the 1830s and 1840s, several new hotels were built on both sides of the Limmat that met modern standards. The Great Baths expanded beyond the (now demolished) medieval wall.

The Grand Hôtel around 1890
Kurhaus Company share (1874)

The drilling of the new Schwanenquelle in Ennetbaden in 1844 threw the sensitive system off balance. The other sources almost dried up and the previous state could only be restored by inserting a shutter. The canton banned further private boreholes , documented the sources and stipulated discharge quantities, storage heights, discharge levels, ownership structure and rights of use. The investments and the commitment of innovative spa doctors began to pay off in the middle of the 19th century, when Baden rose to an internationally recognized health resort. The guests came from the upper middle class in Switzerland and various European countries. Promenades along the Limmat, walks on the surrounding hills and viewing pavilions completed the tourist offer. The opening of the Zurich – Baden railway line , the first in Switzerland, on August 7, 1847 led to a further increase in visitor numbers; the Baden train station was located halfway between Old Town and bathing quarter.

Neue Kuranstalt AG, in which almost exclusively external donors were involved, intended to promote and expand the spa on a large scale. In 1872 she acquired the backyard, a year later the Staadhof. It thus owned around a third of the spa district and a significant proportion of the springs. In 1873/74 she removed the last medieval buildings in the backyard. Based on plans by Paul Adolphe Tièche, she had the "Neue Kuranstalt" built on the property with 176 rooms and 60 bathrooms. This luxury hotel, equipped with all the achievements of the time (in 1882 it was the first building to be permanently supplied with electricity in Baden), went bankrupt in 1885 despite many visitors. The new owner changed the name to " Grand Hotel " to underpin the claim to be the first hotel on the square. Other hotels were also significantly expanded in the 1870s and 1880s.

Baden was increasingly in competition with mountain health resorts and other tourist destinations at home and abroad. In particular, the lack of a large event hall as a social center and a spa park was seen as a disadvantage of the location. After the failure of a project by Gottfried Semper , the Kurhaus-Gesellschaft was founded in 1871 and organized an architectural competition. The Kursaal on the Haselfeld was opened in 1875, together with the park. Thanks to the changeover to year-round spa operation, the number of overnight stays between 1882 and 1913 was doubled from 78,000 to 149,000. Towards the end of the 19th century, the cure had become a mass phenomenon, but at the same time it was also affected by a gradual loss of prestige. One of the reasons for this was Baden's transformation into an industrial city, especially after the founding of Brown, Boveri & Cie. (now ABB ), whose production facilities were built near the spa district from 1891.

Decline in the 20th century

Kursaal
Former bathing hotels in Ennetbaden

During the First World War , the number of guests collapsed. The absence of foreign visitors in the interwar period was compensated for by new domestic customers. Responsible for this were the social insurances , which paid for spa stays in whole or in part as a means of rehabilitation and recovery of workforce. This new social regimen for the lower and middle classes replaced the sophisticated social regimen that had been common up to now. The medical-therapeutic orientation resulted in a loss of attractiveness for the classic well-funded spa audience, who now largely stayed away from bathing. The Grand Hotel, which was considered a relic of the decadent Belle Époque , suffered particularly from structural change . After it was initially closed seasonally from September 1939, it was used as a troop accommodation during the Second World War . In 1943, the creditors demanded the liquidation of the operating company and the demolition of the unprofitable hotel. The building was finally blown up by the Swiss Army on August 18, 1944 , after having been used for several weeks as a training object for various military units and for fire-fighting exercises for air protection.

Ailments that previously could only be cured by baths and other therapies have increasingly become treatable with surgical interventions or medication. The social insurances were therefore only prepared to pay for long spa stays in exceptional cases; The focus now was on postoperative rehabilitation. Health resorts lost their attractiveness as holiday destinations after the Second World War, and a stay at a health resort was the epitome of old age and illness. Baden tried to stop the decline by building a public thermal bath, especially since tub baths in hotels and clinics were no longer up to date. The first ideas for this came up in 1938, and six years later Armin Meili published a study. In the mid-1950s, Verenahof AG, which had bought the bankruptcy estate of the Grand Hotel, tackled the implementation. After demolishing several outbuildings of the Staadhof and the backyard, construction work began in 1960. The indoor thermal pool, designed by Otto Glaus and opened on October 1, 1964, was the largest in Switzerland at the time, and an outdoor pool was added in 1980. From 1967 to 1969, Glaus also built the new Staadhof building, including a pavilion-like pump room .

Despite these investments, the number of guests soon began to decline again. The local hotel industry was geared towards business travelers, for whom the health resort offer was not the main reason for the trip, but rather a pleasant additional offer. Baden and Ennetbaden missed the wellness trend and fell far behind their Aargau rivals Bad Zurzach , Rheinfelden and Schinznach-Bad , which had managed to shed their old-fashioned image in time. In addition, Ennetbaden was severely affected by through traffic from the 1960s. The hotels there were gradually converted or demolished; the spa business came to a standstill around 1980. The wave of closings then spread to Baden. In 1994/95 hope was again born when the Israeli investor group Control Centers Ltd. presented the “Riverfront” project, costing 150 million francs, with a multifunctional bathing, residential and entertainment complex. After doubts about the feasibility arose and the investors withdrew early, this project failed. The Hotel Verenahof , the largest operation after the Grand Hotel was blown up, closed in 2002, while only the medical center remained in the Staadhof. The Hotel Blume asserted itself as the only bathing hotel .

Revitalization project

In 2002, Baden, Ennetbaden and Obersiggenthal published a development model that served as the basis for the revitalization of the spa district in need of renovation. By changing the planning regulations, a new usage structure should be created that does not depend solely on the bathing and hotel business and enables sustainable development. The first step was the construction of the bypass road in Ennetbaden in order to free the core and bathing zone from through traffic (up to 10,000 vehicles per day). The centerpiece is the 647 m long gold wall tunnel. After 34 months of construction, the opening took place on November 8, 2008, on the same day the Leaning Bridge was closed to motorized individual traffic. As a result, a promenade was built again along Badstrasse and a significant renovation and modernization push began.

The Hotel Römerbad, which was demolished in 2017

From 1996 Verenahof AG pursued the goal of demolishing the hotels Bären, Ochsen and Verenahof and replacing them with a new thermal bath. The project met with strong resistance and ultimately failed in 2005. A year later, a local real estate investor took over the majority of the shares and initiated new planning based on a feasibility study prepared by Max Dudler . Together with the city of Baden, he commissioned five renowned architecture firms to study. In August 2009, Mario Botta's project was awarded the contract. A new thermal bath is planned along the river bank, consisting of a 160 m long structure with a natural stone facade, from which finger-like openings protrude into the sky. Several indoor and outdoor pools of different temperatures, a sauna area, therapy rooms and a restaurant are planned. The Hotel Staadhof from the 1960s is being replaced by a residential and medical center. The listed hotels Bären, Ochsen and Verenahof will be connected inside and converted into a rehabilitation clinic with 78 rooms. Furthermore, the public space is to be upgraded and a new footbridge to the former Oederlin factory area in Obersiggenthal is to be built.

The thermal bath, built in 1963/64, was closed at the end of June 2012 because it is located on the building site of the new thermal bath. Originally, work on the CHF 160 million project should have started in 2013, but the necessary building permits were only available in 2016 due to objections and further delays. The implementation of the project began on January 17, 2017 with the demolition of the dilapidated Hotel Römerbad (former dependance of the Grand Hôtels) and the thermal indoor pool. Various project adjustments at the Verenahof then delayed the start of construction by more than a year. The groundbreaking ceremony for the Botta-Therme finally took place on April 17, 2018. The opening is planned for the second half of 2021.

Research history

Balneology and geology

From the late 15th century, travel reports about Baden no longer only contained descriptions of impressions and events, but also began to deal with the thermal water. In 1480 Hans Folz wrote the oldest known balneological report in German and wrote about the observations he had made here. Heinrich Gundelfingen wrote a report on the medicinal effects of thermal water in 1489 and gave advice for a successful cure. In 1516 Alexander Seitz published the first printed work on Baden. In it he described in detail the "strength, virtue and eye-creating" of the Baden sources. Around 1550, Conrad Gessner described in detail bathing and drinking cures and their influence on the human organism. Like Seitz before him, he thought drinking cures were far more useful. In 1702 Salomon Hottinger summarized the knowledge of the time in detail in Thermae Argovia Badenses . He spoke out against long-lasting communal baths and recommended time-limited individual baths that were better adapted to the patient's constitution and illness.

Reasonable examination of the baths in Baden by Johann Jakob Scheuchzer (1732)

In 1732 Johann Jakob Scheuchzer dealt with the origin of the springs, their mineral content and their hygienic effect in a reasonable investigation of the baths in Baden . He also described the course of a cure and the use of barbers and cupping cups . In 1792, the reformed pastor Samuel Rengger wrote several reports on the spa system for the authorities in Zurich, in which he criticized in particular the lack of medical care for the sick and the critical condition of the local pharmacies. In 1824 Alexandre Vinet judged the effect of the baths as positive; He saw the recent introduction of steam baths as a valuable innovation. In 1845, the spa doctor Johann Alois Minnich published Baden and its warm healing springs, a work of great medical, historical and topographic importance in terms of medicine and culture. His detailed descriptions of clinical pictures and successes of the cure became important foundations of spa medicine and contributed to the view of the cure as a holistic healing method.

There have been numerous hypotheses about the origin of the thermal water. Hottinger and Scheuchzer suspected the camps as a catchment area. In 1817 Johann Gottfried Ebel described a gypsum deposit near Ehrendingen on the northern slope of the Lägern as the origin of the mineralization. Heinrich Zschokke, on the other hand, speculated in 1816 that the thermal water was the result of volcanic activity in the Glarus Alps , which were connected to the camps by rock layers ( juvenile water ). In 1884 Albert Heim took the view that rainwater seeps into the Uri Alps around Engelberg and flows through layers of shell limestone as far as Baden. Albert Mousson, on the other hand, had already been of the opinion in 1840 that the water came from the west from the Jura . In 1902 Friedrich Mühlberg supported this theory with extensive geological investigations, but even he could not determine the cause of the warming of the water. In 1943, Adolf Hartmann tried to provide evidence that the water on the Müseren plateau west of Baden seeps away, sinks in the direction of strike of the strata to the east, collects under the lager and rises to the top. He explained the warming with the volcanic rocks of the Hegau reaching far to the southwest . Paul Haberbosch took up this theory two years later and said that the amount of water from the Müseren plateau alone was not sufficient, which is why he also assumed that a groundwater flow from the Reuss was also involved .

The Baden pharmacist and local researcher Ulrich Münzel wrote a dissertation during his studies at the ETH Zurich , which deals in detail with the geology, hydrology and mineralogy of Baden thermal water and its balneological applications. The dissertation, published as a monograph in 1947 , combines scientific research with the interpretation of cultural and historical sources and is still considered a standard work today . Later investigations largely confirmed Münzel's findings, with the exception of geology. In the 1960s, isotope studies led to the realization that supra-regional flow systems exist that allow several possibilities of water origin at the same time. The alpine origin is clearly refuted.

archeology

In 1451 or 1452 Felix Hemmerlin described the baths in detail in the Tractatus de balneis naturalibus . He reported on a restoration of the Great Hot Stone , which was 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 1564 a dedicatory inscription to the «deus invictus» was found in the backyard , which is lost today. Objects kept coming to light during construction work, mostly coins. Seven bronze figures that were found in the area of ​​the barn of the Hotel Blume in 1871 are particularly well preserved. They represent Roman gods and probably belonged to a lararium . On Parkstrasse, just west of the spring zone, the notary Alfred Meyer and his father-in-law Armin Kellersberger (the former mayor ) carried out excavations between 1893 and 1898 and came across a building complex. Due to the large number of medical devices found, archaeologists assumed for decades that it was a Roman military hospital. After a reassessment of the excavation reports and the finds in the late 1980s, this theory is no longer upheld, as the finds date back several centuries.

The excavation work for the thermal indoor pool unearthed an apse in 1963 , but no further investigations were made. In 1967/68 the first systematic excavation in the spa district took place in the course of the new Staadhof building . Unexpectedly, it was found that the foundations of the bathing hotel of the early 19th century were partly directly on Roman walls. Two marble- clad bathing pools (5 × 11 m and 7 × 15 m) and four small tubs in between were exposed. The water was led from one of the springs to the apse via a 50 m long pipe. The apse was retained and was integrated into the basement of the new building. Also in 1967 the source shaft of the Great Hot Stone 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 .

Archaeological work in the spa district (2011)

For a long time, little was known about the Roman settlement in Ennetbaden. This changed when the Aargau canton archeology carried out excavations in 2006 and from 2008 to 2010 in the area of ​​the former Roman bridge. She was able to provide evidence that there was a Roman craftsmen's settlement there, which burned down in the last third of the 1st century. A terraced house built as a result also burned down around 270. In the immediate vicinity an Alemannic grave from the second half of the 7th century was found, in which a woman was buried with costume and jewelry. The area of ​​the St. Michael's Chapel, which was demolished in 1966, was also examined and a cemetery was found. Locals as well as bathers were buried in around 60 graves from 1669 to 1807.

After the announcement of the major Botta project, the canton archeology carried out extensive excavations. As of April 2009, up to 40 people were involved in three excavation sites, making this investigation the largest ever carried out in the canton of Aargau outside of Vindonissa . It lasted until June 2012 and brought numerous new insights, especially about urban development in the High Middle Ages. For example, in the 11th century, the area under the Verenahof was drained in order to find new springs and to build new baths and inns. A bathhouse from the 13th or early 14th century was also uncovered under the Hotel Ochsen . The "Kesselbad" belonging to the backyard from around 1500 is to be integrated into the new thermal bath.

Prominent spa guests

Baden was often visited by famous people who hoped for relief from their ailments, met like-minded people or combined their business activities with pleasure. In the late 13th and early 14th centuries, representatives of the Habsburgs who carried out official acts in Baden often stayed here . Several bathing visits by King Rudolf I between 1275 and 1291 are documented, as well as his son Albrecht I (until 1308) and his grandson Leopold I (until 1315). A land register of Einsiedeln Abbey from 1330 contains initial notes from visits by clerics. In 1345 a report by the chronicler Johannes von Winterthur names visits by various high-ranking people from Basel and Alsace . Visits by Emperor Charles IV (1354), Sigismund (1433/34) and Friedrich III. (1442) as well as noted by Pope Martin V (1418). Diebold Schilling the Elder reported in detail in the Bern Chronicle about the visit of Queen Eleanor of Scotland in autumn 1474. She had previously campaigned for the conclusion of the Eternal Direction , the peace treaty between the Confederation and Austria, and was therefore in high regard.

Before the Reformation, dignitaries made all kinds of fundraising in order to finance trips to the bathing appropriate to their status. For example, Anastasia von Hohenklingen, the abbess of the Fraumünster , sold a farm at the gates of Zurich in 1415 in order to travel to Baden with the proceeds. In 1500, the Dominican Sisters of the Töss Monastery paid the Pope a considerable sum for permission to visit the baths in secular clothes, out of consideration for health. Mayors of Zurich were seen as particularly extravagant. Hans Waldmann , who is otherwise morally strict, stayed here in 1489, shortly before his arrest and execution, accompanied by several women and enjoyed himself. Diethelm Röist, one of his successors, was accompanied by no fewer than 189 people in 1534. In 1570 the Duchess of Württemberg stayed in Baden. She had taken her Reformed court preacher with her, which violated the Second Kappeler Landfrieden of 1531. Thereupon she was sentenced to a fine of 200 guilders by the Catholic communities of the Swiss Confederation. Other high-ranking visitors were the Electors Joachim Friedrich von Brandenburg (1587) and Ernst von Bayern (1607).

Only towards the end of the coalition wars did celebrities return to Baden. The publication of detailed guest lists did not come into fashion until around 1830, but visits by the revolutionary Frédéric-César de La Harpe , the publicist Paul Usteri and the influential politician Philipp Albert Stapfer are known for 1813 . In 1834, the future French Emperor Napoleon III. to guest. In the 1840s, numerous German dissidents stayed in the small baths, including Adolf Ludwig Follen , Georg Herwegh , Ferdinand Freiligrath and Charles Sealsfield . After the connection to the railway network and especially after the opening of the Grand Hotel , more and more aristocrats from Germany, France and Russia stayed, as well as well-known representatives from business, science and culture. These include the former French Empress Eugénie de Montijo (several times in the 1870s and 1880s), the Federal Councilors Emil Welti (1878) and Bernhard Hammer (1890), the Generals Hans Herzog (1888) and Edward Montagu-Stuart-Wortley (1902) , the writers Alexandre Dumas (1854), Gottfried Keller (1886) and Conrad Ferdinand Meyer (1896), the painters Arnold Böcklin (1889), the physicians Rudolf Virchow (1883) and Albert Schweitzer (1906), the historian Jacob Burckhardt (1889 ), the physicists Marie Curie and Pierre Curie (1898), the banker Alphonse de Rothschild (1890), the film pioneer Louis Lumière (1899) and the former French Prime Minister Charles de Freycinet (1915). The composer Richard Strauss took several cures at the Verenahof and worked there, among other things, on the opera Arabella . The last prominent world-class spa guest is the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie , who stayed at the Verenahof for a few days in 1954 after visiting the Brown Boveri works.

Cultural "bathing trips"

Thomas Murner: An authentic spiritual trip to Baden (1514)
David Hess: The Badenfahrt (1818)

There are numerous literary descriptions of the baths and of encounters with visitors. One of the earliest descriptions of late medieval bathing culture north of the Alps comes from Poggio Bracciolini , one of the most important humanists of the Italian Renaissance . In May 1416 he stayed in Baden to treat rheumatism in his hands. In a letter to his friend Niccolò Niccoli in Florence , he presented Baden as a locus amoenus , an idealized place of pleasure in the sense of the ancient poets and philosophers, but which is always accompanied by the ambivalence of the immoral. He was fascinated by the bathers' joie de vivre.

«The baths (...) are shared by men and women. Walls separate them, and in these there are a lot of little windows through which they can drink and chat with each other, but also see and touch each other from one side to the other (...) Everyone is allowed to visit, have a conversation, a Jokingly and to relax the mind go to and stay in the baths of others; the result is that you can take a look at the little dressed women when they come out of the water or step into the water. "

- Poggio Braggiolini : letter to Niccolò Niccoli

The topos created by Bracciolini had a decisive influence on the image of the Baden baths and was taken up many times by later authors. The lascivious descriptions and interpretations only partly correspond to reality. Rather, the intention behind many of the texts was to criticize the bathing pleasure, which is considered decadent, and the moral shortcomings of the nobility, the upper class and the clergy. Pero Tafur , a Castilian travelogue, visited the baths in 1438 to heal an arrow wound. He observed that men and women often went naked into the bathroom together, had drinking bouts and sang extensively. The Saxon traveler Hans von Waltheim reported in 1471 about invitations from nobles from Breisgau and Swabia as well as from citizens from Basel, Constance and Lindau .

In 1514 the Alsatian Thomas Murner coined the term "Badenfahrt". In the book Ein andechtig Geistliche Badenfahrt , inspired by his own health-related cures, he described a symbolic spa treatment in which Jesus is depicted as a lifeguard, Murner as a patient and the bath as an allegory for the buses. 1526 Bern made Niklaus Manuel in Faber and harrowing Badenfahrt about John Eck and Johann Faber funny and imputed them they were during the Baden disputation been more at the Baths interested than at pushing back the Reformation . Heinrich Pantaleon , professor at the University of Basel, was a frequent guest . In 1578 he published the hard-working and hard-working description of the ancient place and Graveschektiven Baden sampt their healing warm wild animals . In it, he not only limited himself to the baths, but also described the old town and its sights. The baths of Baden are also mentioned in the picaresque novel Der adventurliche Simplicissimus by Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen , published in 1668 . There you can read that many visitors came here more for entertainment and less for illness:

«... we went to Baden, there to winter completely. There I hired a funny room and room of ours, which otherwise, especially summer time, is used by the bathers, which are commonly wealthy Swiss, who are more drawn to enjoy themselves and to flaunt themselves than to bathe for a few ailments. "

- Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen : The adventurous Simplicissimus

Meliora von Muheim, a nun from Uri in the Hermetschwil monastery , composed a song called Ein nüw Lied, singing merrily in Badenfahrten . It was printed in 1617 and tells in eleven stanzas about illness sent by God and relieved in Baden. A comprehensive literary appraisal of the baths was written by David Hess in 1818 . The travel and spa report Die Badenfahrt , written in an entertaining style, also contains a treatise on the cultural history of Baden since the Middle Ages as well as scientific considerations on thermal water and the spa. As the first author ever, he dealt with the natural beauties in the area around Baden, such as the Teufelskeller, and described them romantically . Not least because of the illustrations by the copperplate engraver Franz Hegi , the book became a bestseller and contributed to Baden becoming a major health resort again. In the foreword Hess wrote:

"After I had repeatedly sent there by the doctor's power to gain great benefit for my health, and with joyful conviction, removed an earlier prejudice against the usual way of life in the baths of Baden, I found the otherwise avoided objects on a summary consideration so rich that they were to describe was not only an Atonement, but a source of pleasure in itself for me. "

- David Hess : The Badenfahrt

In 1819 the poet Friedrich von Matthisson stayed at the Staadhof for several weeks. There he became aware of the poetic talent of the blind landlord's daughter Luise Egloff and encouraged her. With the support of the music professor Johann Daniel Elster , she later wrote two compositions. In the summer of 1841 William Henry Fox Talbot visited Baden; A calotype of the bathing district has been preserved . In 1920, Ernst Eschmann created the singspiel Die Badener Fahrt , set to music by Hans Jelmoli , which is about the trip to the spa in Baden in a Weidling on the Limmat. Probably the best-known work on Baden's thermal baths comes from Hermann Hesse , who stayed here for a cure every year from 1923 to 1952. In 1925 he published Kurgast , a collection of glosses . He wrote about his first treatment:

“Now that my days in Baden are coming to an end, I can see that it is very pretty here in Baden. I think I could live here for months. I should actually do it to make amends for a lot of what I have sinned here, to myself, to reason, to the spa, to my room and table neighbor. "

- Hermann Hesse : Spa guest

Rosemarie Keller , who grew up there as the daughter of the landlady of the Hotel Rosenlaube, wrote from the inside of the spa district . She processed her impressions in the 1996 novel Die Wirtin . The term “Badenfahrt” lives on today in the folk festival of the same name , which is held every five years.

literature

  • Fabian Furter, Bruno Meier , Andrea Schaer, Ruth Wiederkehr: City history of Baden . here + now , Baden 2015, ISBN 978-3-03919-341-7 .
  • Otto Mittler : History of the City of Baden . tape 1 : From the earliest period to around 1650 . Verlag Sauerländer , Aarau 1962, p. 254-276 .
  • Otto Mittler: History of the City of Baden . tape 2 : From 1650 to the present . Verlag Sauerländer, Aarau 1965, p. 113-121 and 307-323 .
  • Peter Hoegger: The art monuments of the canton of Aargau . Volume VI, District of Baden I. Birkhäuser Verlag , Basel 1976, ISBN 3-7643-0782-X .
  • Florian Müller: The forgotten Grand Hotel: Life and death of the largest hotel in Baden 1876–1944 . here + now, Baden 2016, ISBN 978-3-03919-408-7 .
  • Thomas Bolt, Uli Münzel: The spa district of Baden and Ennetbaden . In: Swiss art guides . tape 399 . Society for Swiss Art History , Bern 1986, ISBN 3-85782-399-2 .
  • Myriam Gessler: The baths of Baden: Legal freedom . In: Yearbook . tape 20 . Swiss Society for Economic and Social History, Bern 2007 ( e-periodica.ch ).
  • Ulrich Münzel: The thermal baths of Baden: A balneological monograph . Dissertation printer ETH, Zurich 1947, doi : 10.3929 / ethz-a-000090919 .
  • Hans Rudolf Wiedemer: The Roman thermal baths of Baden - Aquae Helveticae . In: Baden New Years Papers . tape 44 . Buchdruckerei AG, Baden 1969 ( e-periodica.ch ).
  • Ulrich Münzel: Bathing in the mirror of his guests . In: Baden New Years Papers . tape 73 . Baden-Verlag, Baden 1998 ( e-periodica.ch ).

Web links

Commons : Bäderquartier, Baden  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mittler: History of the City of Baden. Volume II, pp. 189-192.
  2. ↑ Heinz Meier: "From over there to over there". (PDF) (No longer available online.) In: Ennetbadener Post, No. 1/2005. Ennetbaden municipal administration, March 2005, pp. 13–15 , archived from the original on May 1, 2016 ; accessed on March 27, 2017 .
  3. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 11.
  4. ^ A b c Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 10.
  5. ^ Münzel: The thermal baths of Baden. Pp. 18-19.
  6. ^ Münzel: The thermal baths of Baden. Pp. 39-40.
  7. ^ Geological city guide. (PDF; 1.0 MB) (No longer available online.) City of Baden, 2004, archived from the original on May 1, 2016 ; accessed on March 27, 2017 .
  8. ↑ a b Werner Kanz: The Baden thermal springs - new knowledge on the question of their origin . In: Baden New Years Papers . tape 80 . here + now , Baden 2005, ISBN 3-906149-86-2 , p. 122-128 .
  9. ^ The thermal baths of Baden. P. 65.
  10. ^ The thermal baths of Baden. P. 71.
  11. ^ The thermal baths of Baden. Pp. 83-85.
  12. ↑ Thermal baths and springs. City of Baden, 2016, accessed on May 20, 2017 . Erna Lang-Jonsdottir: This is how the Aargau thermal baths perform in the large az test . Aargauer Zeitung (online), December 29, 2011, accessed on May 20, 2017.
  13. ^ A b Schaer: City history of Baden. Pp. 10-11.
  14. ^ The thermal baths of Baden. P. 274.
  15. ^ Münzel: The thermal baths of Baden. P. 39.
  16. ^ Münzel: The thermal baths of Baden. Pp. 48-58.
  17. ↑ Hoegger: The monuments of the Canton of Aargau. Pp. 315-317.
  18. ↑ Mario Botta continues with the new “Verenahof” in Baden. Swiss radio and television , June 23, 2014, accessed on March 27, 2017 .
  19. ↑ Hoegger: The monuments of the Canton of Aargau. Pp. 318-321.
  20. ↑ Hoegger: The monuments of the Canton of Aargau. Pp. 321-322.
  21. ↑ Hoegger: The monuments of the Canton of Aargau. Pp. 166-173.
  22. ↑ Hoegger: The monuments of the Canton of Aargau. Pp. 307-310.
  23. ↑ Hoegger: The monuments of the Canton of Aargau. Pp. 90-91.
  24. ↑ Hoegger: The monuments of the Canton of Aargau. Pp. 303-304.
  25. ↑ Hoegger: The monuments of the Canton of Aargau. Pp. 325-327.
  26. ↑ Hoegger: The monuments of the Canton of Aargau. Pp. 322-325.
  27. ↑ Hoegger: The monuments of the Canton of Aargau. Pp. 357-359.
  28. ↑ Pirmin Kramer: 60 million building delayed: Hotel Schwanen will not open until 2017. Aargauer Zeitung , October 2, 2014, accessed on March 27, 2017 .
  29. ↑ Ursula Burgherr: “The square is a good reference for the future”. Aargauer Zeitung , April 2, 2012, accessed on March 27, 2017 .
  30. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 17.
  31. ^ A b Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 20.
  32. ^ Tacitus : Historiae I , 67.
  33. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 21.
  34. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 26.
  35. ↑ a b Martin Hartmann, Hans Weber: The Romans in Aargau . Sauerländer, Aarau 1985, ISBN 3-7941-2539-8 , pp. 161-164 .
  36. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 31.
  37. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 33.
  38. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 36.
  39. ^ A b Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 39.
  40. ↑ Gessler: Legal freedom. Pp. 70, 71.
  41. ↑ Mittler: History of the City of Baden. Volume I, p. 63. See also: Battle of Dättwil .
  42. ↑ Mittler: History of the City of Baden. Volume I, pp. 65-66.
  43. ^ Meier: City history of Baden. P. 115.
  44. ^ Meier: City history of Baden. P. 117.
  45. ^ A b c Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 51.
  46. ↑ Gessler: Legal freedom. P. 71.
  47. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 47.
  48. ↑ Gessler: Legal freedom. P. 72.
  49. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 42.
  50. ↑ Gessler: Legal freedom. Pp. 75-78.
  51. ↑ Gessler: Legal freedom. P. 79.
  52. ^ A b Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 62.
  53. ↑ Gessler: Legal freedom. Pp. 76-77.
  54. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. Pp. 54-56.
  55. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 57.
  56. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 59.
  57. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 45.
  58. ^ Meier: City history of Baden. P. 137.
  59. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 63.
  60. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 65.
  61. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 67.
  62. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 72.
  63. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. Pp. 75, 79.
  64. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 79.
  65. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 80.
  66. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 82.
  67. ^ Müller: The forgotten Grand Hotel. P. 175.
  68. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. Pp. 82, 84.
  69. ^ The thermal baths, the "Staadhof" and the drinking hall by Otto Glaus. (PDF, 795 kB) (No longer available online.) Verenahof AG, archived from the original on March 28, 2017 ; accessed on March 27, 2017 .
  70. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 85.
  71. ^ A b c Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 91.
  72. ↑ Ennetbaden core and pool bypass - Goldwand tunnel. (PDF, 1.1 MB) (No longer available online.) Lichtplan GmbH, archived from the original on March 28, 2017 ; accessed on March 27, 2017 .
  73. ↑ A bang at the Limmat knee: Mario Botta is building in Baden. Tages-Anzeiger , August 20, 2009, accessed March 27, 2017 .
  74. ↑ project. thermalbaden.ch, 2017, accessed on March 27, 2017 .
  75. ↑ After 30 years of planning: Today finally the start of the pool project. Aargauer Zeitung , January 7, 2017, accessed on March 27, 2017 .
  76. ↑ Now the old baths are being torn down. Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen , January 17, 2017, accessed on March 27, 2017 .
  77. ↑ Andreas Fahrländer: Another delay: "Botta-Bad" will not open until 2021 - due to material finds. Aargauer Zeitung , November 7, 2019, accessed on April 2, 2019 .
  78. ↑ Mittler: History of the City of Baden. Volume I, pp. 272-275.
  79. ↑ Mittler: History of the City of Baden. Volume II, pp. 115-116.
  80. ↑ Mittler: History of the City of Baden. Volume II, p. 119.
  81. ↑ Mittler: History of the City of Baden. Volume II, p. 309.
  82. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 70.
  83. ^ Münzel: The thermal baths of Baden. Pp. 24-25.
  84. ^ Münzel: The thermal baths of Baden. Pp. 25-26.
  85. ^ Münzel: The thermal baths of Baden. Pp. 29-31.
  86. ^ Münzel: The thermal baths of Baden. Pp. 32-35.
  87. ^ Josef Bürge: Obituary: Uli Münzel (1914–2000) . In: Baden New Years Papers . tape 76 . Baden-Verlag, Baden 2001, ISBN 3-906419-18-5 , pp. 216 .
  88. ^ 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 .
  89. ↑ Wiedemer: T he Roman thermal baths of Baden - Aquae Helveticae. Pp. 45-46.
  90. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 29.
  91. ^ Christian Holliger, Claudia Holliger: Bronze vessels from Baden-Aquae Helveticae. In: Annual Report. Gesellschaft Pro Vindonissa, pp. 58-60 , accessed March 27, 2017 (1988/1989).
  92. ^ Wiedmer: The Roman thermal baths of Baden - Aquae Helveticae. Pp. 46-47.
  93. ^ Wiedmer: The Roman thermal baths of Baden - Aquae Helveticae. P. 48.
  94. ^ Wiedmer: The Roman thermal baths of Baden - Aquae Helveticae. Pp. 51-54.
  95. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 27.
  96. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 33.
  97. ↑ Stephan Wyss, David Wälchli: A rediscovered cemetery at the St. Michaelskapelle to the small baths . In: Baden New Years Papers . tape 86 . here + now , Baden 2011, ISBN 978-3-03919-177-2 , p. 178-187 .
  98. ↑ Andrea Schaer: The current excavations in the Baden spa district . In: Baden New Years Papers . tape 86 . here + now , Baden 2011, ISBN 978-3-03919-177-2 , p. 170 .
  99. ↑ Excavations in the Baden spa district are completed. Canton of Aargau, July 2, 2012, accessed on March 27, 2017 .
  100. ^ Astrid Baldinger, Jeannette Egli: “Dis het min herr, der lantvogt, verzert” . In: Baden New Years Papers . tape 72 . Baden-Verlag, Baden 1997, p. 60, 62 .
  101. ↑ Mittler: History of the City of Baden. Volume I, pp. 262-266.
  102. ↑ Mittler: History of the City of Baden. Volume I, pp. 267-268.
  103. ↑ a b Mittler: History of the City of Baden. Volume II, pp. 308-314.
  104. ^ Müller: The forgotten Grand Hotel. Pp. 190-195.
  105. ^ Willi Schuh : Richard Strauss in Switzerland. (PDF, 7.1 MB) du , November 1951, accessed on March 27, 2017 .
  106. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. Pp. 52-53.
  107. ^ The city of Baden: A source of joie de vivre in the 15th century. Swiss Radio and Television , June 20, 2016, accessed on March 27, 2017 .
  108. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 50.
  109. ^ Münzel: Bathing in the mirror of his guests. Pp. 126-127.
  110. ^ Münzel: Bathing in the mirror of his guests. Pp. 128-129.
  111. ↑ Mittler: History of the City of Baden. Volume I, p. 275.
  112. ^ Münzel: Bathing in the mirror of his guests. P. 131.
  113. ↑ a b Return: City History of Baden. P. 226.
  114. ^ Ulrich Münzel: 150 years "Die Badenfahrt" by David Hess . In: Baden New Years Papers . tape 47 . Baden-Verlag, Baden 1968, p. 49-52 .
  115. ↑ Mittler: History of the City of Baden. Volume II, p. 307.
  116. ^ Return: City History of Baden. Pp. 222-223.
  117. ^ Hermann Hesse : Kurgast. Notes from a Baden cure . Suhrkamp Verlag , Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-518-74392-8 .
  118. ↑ Rosemarie Keller : The landlady . Pendo-Verlag, Zurich 1996, ISBN 3-85842-308-4 .

Coordinates: 47 ° 28 ′ 49 "  N , 8 ° 18 ′ 47"  E ; CH1903:  665.91 thousand  /  259 201

This article was added to the list of excellent articles on May 27, 2017 in this version .