Baden-Baden
Baden-Baden (German pronunciation: [ˈbaːdn̩ ˈbaːdn̩] ) 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.
For other uses, see Baden Baden (disambiguation).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.[3]
Name[edit]
The springs at Baden-Baden were known to the Romans as Aquae ("The Waters")[4] and Aurelia Aquensis ("Aurelia-of-the-Waters") after M. Aurelius Severus Alexander Augustus.[5]
In modern German, Baden is a noun meaning "bathing"[6] but Baden, the original name of the town, derives from an earlier plural form of Bad ("bath").[7] (Modern German uses the plural form Bäder.)[8] 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,[7] 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.[9]
Geography[edit]
Baden-Baden lies in a valley[10] of the Northern Black Forest in southwestern Germany.[11] The western districts lie within the Upper Rhine Plain. The highest mountain of Baden-Baden is the Badener Höhe (1,002.5 m above sea level (NHN)[12]), 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.[10] Since the 19th century, the principal resorts have been located on the other side of the river.[10] There are 29 natural springs in the area, varying in temperature from 46 to 67 °C (115 to 153 °F).[10] The water is rich in salt and flows from artesian wells 1,800 m (5,900 ft) under Florentine Hill[13] at a rate of 341 litres (90 gallons) per minute and is conveyed through pipes to the town's baths.[10]
Transport[edit]
Railway[edit]
Baden-Baden has three stations, Baden-Baden station being the most important of them.
Air[edit]
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[32] and mostly serves low-cost and leisure flights.
Old town (Altstadt)
Florentine Hill (Florentinerberg), with the New Castle (top right), the Caracalla Spa (lower right), and the Friedrichsbad (lower left)
Baden-Baden's parish church (Stiftskirche)
The Trinkhalle
Brenner's Park Hotel
The Russian Orthodox Church (Russische Kirche)
Sturdza Chapel
The Friedrichsbad, New Castle, and Abbey School (Klosterschule vom Heiligen Grab)
The Spa Shell, an open-air concert venue
Museum Frieder Burda
Lichtentaler Allee
Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden
Fabergé Museum
Museum der Kunst und Technik des 19. Jahrhunderts
Brahmshaus
Festspielhaus Baden-Baden
Mount Merkur, tower
Fremersberg Tower
The Old Castle
The Kurhaus and Casino
Artistic depiction[edit]
Baden featured in Tolstoy's Anna Karenina (under an alias)[14] and Turgenev's Smoke. Dostoyevsky wrote The Gambler while compulsively gambling at the town's casino.[16][34]
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.
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. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Sopranos_characters#Friends_and_family)
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