Dhe water from the cooking well is 66 degrees hot and comes straight out of the ground. It gives off a sulphurous smell and tastes accordingly. It’s hard to believe that 150 years ago, Wiesbaden spa guests drank up to four liters of it every day. Back then, health was less important. The motto of the spa guests was: see and be seen.
Even various emperors came to Wiesbaden, the opera star Enrico Caruso (1873-1921) spent his holidays here. Writer Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) gambled away his belongings in the local casino and was inspired to write his novel “The Gambler”. And these are just a few of the celebrities who put the handle – or rather the water cup – in their hands here.
It hisses and bubbles from 26 hot springs
Whoever visits Wiesbaden today should start the tour right there: in the middle of the city at the Kochbrunnen and the Kochbrunnen-Springer, which is a few meters further and is covered with red sinter deposits. You really can’t overlook either of these things, especially not in winter, when not only the fountains are steaming, but also the many manhole covers in the district.
The Kochbrunnen Springer has distinctive, red sinter deposits
Source: pa/Helga Lade Photo Agency GmbH, Ger/E.Bergmann
The city has a total of 26 hot springs, and the Kochbrunnen pools several of them. Around 20,000 liters gush out of the brass taps here every hour. It is also used functionally: residents keep coming by with plastic canisters to fill up on the salty broth. Is it worth it? Does it work?
All you have to do is look up to see the power of the fountain and its impact on the city. Around the Kranzplatz and Kochbrunnenplatz, the city is bursting with grandeur: this is where the “Black goat”, probably the oldest hotel in Germany from the year 1486, the old “Hotel Rose” – today the Hessian State Chancellery – and that “palace hotel”, where illustrious spa guests once resided.
Wiesbaden has quite a few monumental buildings – for example the “Palasthotel”
Source: dpa-tmn
Caruso is said to have spontaneously given a small concert here one followingnoon from the balcony. A little further north are the spa colonnades, where the spa guests, protected from wind and weather, took a hot drink from the fountain and strolled to attract the public. And that’s just the beginning.
In Taunusstraße, which begins at Kochbrunnenplatz, the city surpasses itself once once more with monumental buildings in which a particularly large number of antique dealers now offer the finest goods.
How Wiesbaden got rich
Wide boulevards lined with magnificent 19th-century buildings are typical of Wiesbaden almost everywhere. Almost as if there was no story before it. However, the place has been known for a long time.
The Romans already mentioned them The waters of Mattiacum, the “Waters of the Mattiaker”, the local Germanic tribe, and probably had a bathing facility built here. Today’s Wiesbaden is only mentioned as Wisibada in the early Middle Ages. Over the centuries, the hot springs of the settlement apparently brought guests and modest prosperity once more and once more.
Taunusstraße, which begins at Kochbrunnenplatz, is lined with magnificent old buildings
Quelle: pa/imageBROKER/Shoeing
The city’s heyday began in 1806, when Wiesbaden not only became the seat of government for the Nassau family, but also when modern health tourism began.
Within a few years, Wiesbaden was transformed into the “world spa town”, as it was called from then on. The fact that it became part of Prussia in 1866 even proved beneficial. Kaiser Wilhelm I and Kaiser Wilhelm II now also took their cures here. The latter even met Tsar Nicholas II in Wiesbaden in 1903. That gave the city’s image a good boost.
Steam from a hot spring rises from the manhole cover
Source: dpa-tmn
Otherwise, the list of prominent guests reads like one Who‘s who of culture: Thomas Mann was just as much a guest in Wiesbaden as Goethe, Brahms, Wagner, Liszt, Stravinsky, Balzac, Empress Sissi and many others. In line with this, a construction boom began. Whole streets full of imposing buildings in the style of historicism were created, massive multi-storey buildings with a thick shovel of romanticism, gothic or even baroque decorations.
At the same time, Wiesbaden showed itself to be progressive: the railway connection to Frankfurt/Main was opened as early as 1840, municipal gas lighting was introduced in 1848, and the Kursaal was electrically lit for the first time in 1882.
The Kurhaus stands for the old splendor of Wiesbaden
Source: dpa-tmn
From 1904 to 1907, at the request of Kaiser Wilhelm II, the magnificent new Kurhaus was built in the classicist style on Wilhelmstrasse, where today you can once once more play for your neck and neck. The historic hall is also worth seeing without spending money.
Of course there weren’t just the beautiful and the rich in Wiesbaden. If you want to know how the many servants and suppliers lived, you have to turn off Taunusstraße into Nerostraße, which runs parallel. Or walk up the small hill to the Bergkirchenviertel. Living in the so-called cat holes was far more cramped.
More US soldiers stationed than anywhere else in the world
With the First World War, the fun was over. Wiesbaden remained a spa town, but the time of imperial pomp came to an abrupt end. In 1918 the Workers’ and Soldiers’ Council moved into the City Palace, just a few months later Wiesbaden was occupied by French troops and was then under British occupation from 1925 to 1930.
The global economic crisis also left its mark – and not long followingwards the Second World War. The fact that all the splendor of the 19th century still exists today is not least due to the fact that Wiesbaden was glamorous for a long time, but not really important politically. In the Second World War they got off lightly.
There are also rumors that the Americans deliberately spared the cozy Wiesbaden in order to set up their German headquarters there – which they actually did. To this day, nowhere else in the world are so many US soldiers permanently stationed as in Wiesbaden. The Berlin Airlift of 1949 was also coordinated from here.
Stroll along Wilhelmstrasse
There is more to see in Wiesbaden than hot springs and fat mansions. Of course, a walk through the city center is worthwhile. For example, via the pompous Wilhelmstraße, affectionately called “the Rue” by the locals. To this day it is a street of the rich and definitely not a place for bargain hunters.
Also worth seeing is the Schlossplatz with the Red Market Church from 1862, the tallest building in the city. And the city palace of the Dukes of Nassau, which now houses the Hessian state parliament.
The New Town Hall and the Red Market Church from 1862 are located on the Schlossplatz
Quelle: Getty Images/Oliver Kessler
It may come as a surprise that Wiesbaden only has a comparatively small old town. Large fires destroyed the city several times in the 16th century. No wonder that the oldest town house, the Cetto house on Wagemannstraße, dates back to 1728.
The “Schiffchen”, as the locals call the old town thanks to its shape, is still worth seeing. Even if it’s just to have a coffee outside in one of the sophisticated restaurants on Goldgasse. This is also possible in winter, with radiant heaters.
View of the city from Neroberg
You have to get out of the city to get the big picture. If you are good on your feet, you can do it in a one-hour walk north-east along Taunusstrasse. In the Nerotal, the terminus of the Nerobergbahn awaits on the Neroberg, Wiesbaden’s local mountain. In 1888 it was built as a water ballast railway.
The Nerobergbahn takes visitors to Wiesbaden’s local mountain
Source: dpa-tmn
To this day, the now historical technical monument works in a very simple and resourceful way: at the top of the mountain, the train is loaded with around 7000 liters of water and thus pulls a second train uphill on the way down. It is therefore not in operation in winter. But the 83 meter difference in altitude is manageable.
Once at the top there is not only a wonderful view over the city, but also some sights. The Opelbad in the Bauhaus style, one of the first outdoor pools in Germany, impresses with a wonderful view. And hefty prices.
If you want to see Wiesbaden from above, climb or drive up the Neroberg
Source: dpa-tmn
The golden roofs of the Russian Orthodox Church glitter following a few meters through the foliage of the trees. Duke Adolph von Nassau had the burial church built in memory of his young wife, Princess Elisabeth Mikhailovna, Grand Duchess of Russia. She had died giving birth to her first child.
It is thanks to Putin’s visit in 2007 that the golden domes flash so strongly. To mark the occasion, they were repolished – even if the work took far too long and the Russian President only saw the scaffolded structure.
If you haven’t seen enough imposing buildings, you can add more on the way back to the Nerotal: If you brought enough money with you in the 19th and early 20th centuries, you might have a villa built in Wiesbaden. Nowhere else in Germany is there such a large contiguous historical villa area as here.
Information desk: tourismus.wiesbaden.de
Five golden domes crown the Russian Orthodox Church on the Neroberg
Source: dpa-tmn
This is how you get the most out of your vacation days in 2022
The year 2022 gives German employees a little more leeway than last year when it comes to bridging days. Planned in good time, get the most of your free time with this overview.
Source: WORLD / Sebastian Struwe
