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Baden-Baden

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Template:Short description Template:Other uses Template:Infobox German place Baden-Baden (Template:IPA) is a spa town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the Rhine, the border with France, and forty kilometres (twenty-five miles) north-east of Strasbourg, France.

In 2021, the town became part of the transnational UNESCO World Heritage Site under the name "Great Spa Towns of Europe", because of its famous spas and architecture that exemplifies the popularity of spa towns in Europe in the 18th through 20th centuries.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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Name

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The springs at Baden-Baden were known to the Romans as Template:Lang ("The Waters")<ref name="Erfurt-CooperCooper2009">Template:Cite book</ref> and Template:Lang ("Aurelia-of-the-Waters") after M. Aurelius Severus Alexander Augustus.Template:Sfnp

In modern German, Template:Lang is a noun meaning "bathing"<ref>Template:Citation</ref> but Baden, the original name of the town, derives from an earlier plural form of Template:Lang ("bath").<ref name=char>Template:Citation</ref> (Modern German uses the plural form Template:Lang.)<ref>Template:Citation</ref> As with the English placename "Bath", other Badens are at hot springs throughout Central Europe. The current doubled name arose to distinguish it from the others,<ref name=char/> particularly Baden near Vienna in Austria and Baden near Zürich in Switzerland. The original Margraviate of Baden (1112-1535) split into several territories, including Baden-Baden and Baden-Durlach. The name "Baden-Baden" distinguished the Margraviate of Baden-Baden (1535–1771), from the Margraviate of Baden-Durlach. "Baden-Baden" thus means the town of Baden in the territory of Baden, whereas the name of the Margraviate of Baden-Baden meant "the Margraviate of Baden with its princely seat at Baden". Baden-Baden formally got its current name in 1931.<ref> Template:Cite book </ref>

Geography

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Baden-Baden lies in a valleyTemplate:Sfnp of the Northern Black Forest in southwestern Germany.Template:Sfnp The western districts lie within the Upper Rhine Plain. The highest mountain of Baden-Baden is the Badener Höhe (Template:HöheTemplate:GeoQuelle), which is part of the Black Forest National Park. The old town lies on the side of a hill on the right bank of the Oos.Template:Sfnp Since the 19th century, the principal resorts have been located on the other side of the river.Template:Sfnp There are 29 natural springs in the area, varying in temperature from Template:Convert.Template:Sfnp The water is rich in salt and flows from artesian wells Template:Convert under Florentine Hill<ref name=Caracalla>Template:Cite web</ref> at a rate of 341 litres (90 gallons) per minute and is conveyed through pipes to the town's baths.Template:Sfnp

History

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Roman settlement at Baden-Baden has been dated as far back as the emperor Hadrian, but on dubious authority.Template:Sfnp The known ruins of the Roman bath were rediscovered just below the New Castle in 1847Template:Sfnp and date to the reign of Caracalla (AD 210s),Template:Sfnp who visited the area to relieve his arthritic aches.<ref name=Intro>Template:Cite web.</ref> The facilities were used by the Roman garrison in Strasbourg.Template:Sfnp

The town fell into ruin but its church was first constructed in the 7th century.Template:Sfnp By 1112, it was the seat of the Margraviate of Baden.Template:Sfnp The Lichtenthal Convent (Template:Lang) was founded in 1254.Template:Sfnp The margraves initially used Hohenbaden Castle (the Old Castle, Template:Lang), whose ruins still occupy the summit above the town, but they completed and moved to the New Castle (Template:Lang) in 1479.Template:Sfnp The Margraviate was divided in 1535, with Baden-Baden becoming the capital of the Margraviate of Baden-Baden, while the other portion became the Margraviate of Baden-Durlach. The Baden-Baden witch trials, an investigating encompassing the entire territory and resulting in hundreds of verdicts, took place in 1627-1631. Baden suffered severely during the Thirty Years' War, particularly at the hands of the French, who plundered it in 1643.Template:Sfnp They returned to occupy the city in 1688 at the onset of the Nine Years' War, burning it to the ground the next year.Template:Sfnp The margravine Sibylla rebuilt the New Castle in 1697, but the margrave Louis William removed his seat to Rastatt in 1706.Template:Sfnp The Stiftskirche was rebuilt in 1753Template:Sfnp and houses the tombs of several of the margraves.Template:Sfnp

The town began its recovery in the late 18th century, serving as a refuge for émigrés from the French Revolution.Template:Sfnp The town was frequented during the Second Congress of Rastatt in 1797–99Template:Citation needed and became popular after the visit of the Prussian queen in the early 19th century.Template:Sfnp She came for medicinal reasons, as the waters were recommended for gout, rheumatism, paralysis, neuralgia, skin disorders, and stones.Template:Sfnp The Ducal government subsequently subsidized the resort's development.Template:Sfnp The town became a meeting place for the nobility and prosperous upper middle classes, who visited the hot springs and the town's other amenities: luxury hotels, the Spielbank Casino,<ref name=Spiel>Template:Cite web</ref> horse races, and the gardens of the Lichtentaler Allee. Guests included Queen Victoria, Wilhelm I, and Berlioz.<ref name=Intro/> The pumproom (Template:Lang) was completed in 1842.Template:Sfnp The Grand Duchy's railway's mainline reached Baden in 1845.Template:Citation needed Reaching its zenith under Napoleon III in the 1850s and '60s, Baden became "Europe's summer capital".Template:Sfnp With a population of around Template:Nowrap, the town's size could quadruple during the tourist season, with the French, British, Russians, and Americans all well represented.Template:Sfnp (French tourism fell off following the Franco-Prussian War.)Template:Sfnp

The theater was completed in 1861Template:Sfnp and a Greek church with a gilt dome was erected on the Michaelsberg in 1863 to serve as the tomb of the teenage son of the prince of Moldavia Mihail Sturdza after he died during a family vacation.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> A Russian Orthodox church was also subsequently erected.Template:Sfnp The casino was closed for a time in the 1870s.Template:Sfnp

File:Black Forest Autochrome 05 Baden-Baden.jpg
Baden-Baden in 1910

Just before the First World War, the town was receiving Template:Nowrap visitors each year.Template:Sfnp

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During the Second World War, 3.1% of the houses in Baden-Baden were completely destroyed by bombs and 125 civilians were killed.<ref>Template:Citation, Format: PDF, KBytes: 2300</ref> 5.8% of the houses were heavily damaged by bombs.<ref>Statistisches Jahrbuch deutscher Gemeinden, p. 378. Braunschweig 1952</ref> Lichtenthal, a residential area in the southwest of the town, was hit by bombs and Saint Bonifatius Church was severely damaged on 11 March 1943.<ref>Catholic Parish of Saint Bonifatius: Wir über uns, p. 3. Baden-Baden 2002</ref> Balg, a residential area in the northeast of Baden-Baden, was hit by bombs on 17 December 1944. On 30 December 1944 one third of the buildings of Oos (i.e. about 300 houses), a residential area in the north of the town, was destroyed or heavily damaged by bombs and Saint Dionysius Church was severely damaged as well. On 2 January 1945 the railway station of Oos and various barracks on Schwarzwald Road were heavily damaged by bombs.<ref>Dieter Baeuerle et al. Stadtführer Baden-Baden, p. 14. Baden-Baden 1994</ref> After World War II, Baden-Baden became the headquarters of the French occupation forces in Germany as well as of the Südwestfunk, one of Germany's large public broadcasting stations, which is now part of Südwestrundfunk. From 23–28 September 1981, the 11th Olympic Congress took place in Baden-Baden's Template:Lang. The Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Germany's largest opera and concert house, opened in 1998.

CFB Baden-Soellingen, a military airfield built in the 1950s in the Upper Rhine Plain, Template:Convert west of downtown Baden-Baden, was converted into a civil airport in the 1990s. Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden Airport, or Baden Airpark is now the second-largest airport in Baden-Württemberg by number of passengers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1981 Baden-Baden hosted the Olympic Congress, which later made the town awarded the designation Olympic town.

Climate

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The climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is precipitation year round. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Cfb" (Marine West Coast Climate/Oceanic climate).<ref>Climate Summary for Baden Baden</ref>

The Baden-Baden weather station has recorded the following extreme values:<ref name=sklima/>

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Lord Mayors

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  • 1907–1929: Reinhard Fieser
  • 1929–1934: Hermann Elfner
  • 1934–1945: Hans Schwedhelm (when he was not in office because of military service, mayor Kurt Bürkle was in office)
  • April 1945–May 1945: Ludwig Schmitt
  • May 1945–January 1946: Karl Beck
  • January 1946–September 1946: Eddy Schacht
  • 1946–1969: Ernst Schlapper (CDU) (1888-1976)
  • 1969–1990: Walter Carlein (CDU) (1922-2011)
  • 1990–1998: Ulrich Wendt (CDU)
  • 1998–2006: Sigrun Lang (independent)
  • 2006–2014: Wolfgang Gerstner (born 1955), (CDU)
  • 2014–2022: Margret Mergen (born 1961), (CDU)
  • 2022–present: Dietmar Späth (independent)

Tourism

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Baden-Baden is a German spa town.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The city offers many options for sports enthusiasts;<ref name=Intro/> golf and tennis are both popular in the area.<ref name=Intro/> Horse races take place each May, August and October at nearby Iffezheim.<ref name=Intro/> The countryside is ideal for hiking and mountain climbing.<ref name=Intro/> In the winter Baden-Baden is a skiing destination.<ref name=Intro/> There is an 18-hole golf course in Fremersberg.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Sights include:

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Transport

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Road

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The main road link is autobahn A5 between Basel and Frankfurt via Freiburg, Karlsruhe and Mannheim, which is 10 km away from the inner city.

There are two stations providing intercity bus services: one next to the main railway station and one at the airport.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Railway

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Baden-Baden has three stations, Baden-Baden station being the most important of them.

Air

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Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden Airport is an airport located near Baden-Baden that also serves the city of Karlsruhe. It is Baden-Württemberg's second-largest airport after Stuttgart Airport, and the 18th-largest in Germany with 1,110,500 passengers as of 2016<ref name="ADV">Template:Cite web</ref> and mostly serves low-cost and leisure flights.

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Twin towns – sister cities

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File:Karlovy Vary sign of its sister cities.jpg
Sign of Karlovy Vary's sister cities

Template:See also Baden-Baden is twinned with:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Div col

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Artistic depiction

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Baden featured in Turgenev's Smoke. Dostoyevsky wrote The Gambler while compulsively gambling at the town's casino.<ref name=Spiel/><ref>Template:Citation</ref>

The novel Summer in Baden-Baden by Leonid Tsypkin is inspired by Dostoyevsky's visit to this resort.

The 1975 film The Romantic Englishwoman was filmed on location in Baden-Baden, featuring the Brenner's Park Hotel particularly prominently. The 1997 Bollywood movie Dil To Pagal Hai was also shot in the town.Template:Citation needed

Baden-Baden is the subject of a pop song by Finnish songwriter Chisu of how the economic woes of Finland could be solved by selling bottled tears to Europe (specifically Baden-Baden).

In the second season episode of The Sopranos, "The Happy Wanderer," Tony Soprano mentions that his friend David Scatino moved to New Jersey from Baden Baden.

In the penultimate episode of the Better Call Saul's fourth season, Baden-Baden is mentioned.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Notable people

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File:Emil Kessler.jpg
Emil Kessler
File:Francispigou.jpg
Francis Pigou
File:Sir G. William Des Voeux.jpg
Sir William Des Vœux
File:Anna Zerr Kriehuber.jpg
Anna Zerr
File:Antoinette Bower.JPG
Antoinette Bower, 1961
File:Prince Louis II of Monaco 05670r.jpg
Louis II, Prince of Monaco

Public service & commerce

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The arts

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Aristocracy

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Science

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Sport

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See also

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References

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Bibliography

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Further reading

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Template:Germany districts baden-württemberg Template:The Great Spa Towns of Europe Template:Authority control

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