Bad Schwalbach (called Langenschwalbach until 1927) is the district seat of Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis, in

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

Geography

Geographic location

Bad Schwalbach is a

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath, Somerset, B ...

some 20 km northwest of

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

. It lies at 289 to 465 m above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardis ...

in the

Taunus The Taunus is a mountain range in Hesse, Germany, located north of Frankfurt. The tallest peak in the range is '' Großer Feldberg'' at 878 m; other notable peaks are '' Kleiner Feldberg'' (825 m) and '' Altkönig'' (798 m). The Taunus range spa ...

, along the small river

Aar (Lahn) The Aar is a river in western Germany, left tributary of the Lahn. It rises in the Taunus mountains, near Taunusstein. It flows generally north through the towns Taunusstein, Bad Schwalbach, Aarbergen and Hahnstätten. It flows into the Lahn in ...

(a tributary of the

Lahn The Lahn is a , right (or eastern) tributary of the Rhine in Germany. Its course passes through the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia (23.0 km), Hesse (165.6 km), and Rhineland-Palatinate (57.0 km). It has its source i ...

). Over 56 percent of the municipal area is forest.

Neighbouring communities

Bad Schwalbach borders in the north on the community of Hohenstein, in the east on the town of

Taunusstein Taunusstein () is the biggest town in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Darmstadt in Hessen, Germany. It has 30,068 inhabitants (2020). Geography Location Taunusstein lies roughly 10 km northwest of Wiesbaden and ab ...

, in the south on the community of

Schlangenbad Schlangenbad is a municipality in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location The community, which is a health resort (''Kurort''), lies above sea level in a sheltered location on ...

, and in the west on the community of

Heidenrod Heidenrod is a municipality in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. Seat of municipal administration is to be found in the most populated municipal district, in Laufenselden. Geography Location He ...

Constituent communities

Bad Schwalbach’s '' Stadtteile'' are Adolfseck, Bad Schwalbach, Fischbach (Bad Schwalbach), Heimbach, Hettenhain, Langenseifen, Lindschied and Ramschied.

History

Bad Schwalbach was first mentioned in a document in 1352 as ''Langinswalbach.'' The first reliable report of the

mineral spring Mineral springs are naturally occurring springs that produces hard water, water that contains dissolved minerals. Salts, sulfur compounds, and gases are among the substances that can be dissolved in the spring water during its passage un ...

s came in 1568 from the Worms doctor ''

Tabernaemontanus Jacobus Theodorus (Jacob Diether), called Tabernaemontanus (1525 – August 1590) was a physician and an early botanist and herbalist, one of the "fathers of German botany" whose illustrated ''Neuw Kreuterbuch'' (Frankfurt, 1588) was the result of ...

'', who also made the place known in his 1581 work ''Neuw Wasserschatz'' (New Water Resources). Although Langenschwalbach was utterly destroyed in the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of batt ...

, it was quickly rebuilt, and the healing water trade began to blossom. At first, the water would be sold by the jug or barrel throughout

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

by mail order. Only a few seekers of healing undertook the arduous journey to the Taunus. The health resort started at the beginning of the 19th century only after the improvement of road conditions through construction. The Aartalbahn (

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

) from

to Langenschwalbach, finished in 1889, also contributed substantially to its founding. Many crowned heads, princes and counts then came to take the waters and visit the gaming parlours where few strict rules applied. After the end of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, the nobility quickly lost importance and thus began the long, drawn-out and somewhat painful transition from a luxury spa to a public one, which only ended after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. In a wood near Bad Schwalbach in late 1800 or early 1801, Katharina Pfeifer is said to have borne the outlaw

Schinderhannes Johannes Bückler (c.1778 – 21 November 1803) was a German outlaw who orchestrated one of the most famous crime sprees in German history. He has been nicknamed Schinderhannes and Schinnerhannes in German and John the Scorcher, John the Flaye ...

(Johannes Bückler) a child.Bayerlein, S. 214

Politics

Town council

The municipal election held on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results:

Mayors

*1995–2001: Günter Janisch (CDU) *2001–2007: Michael Kalhoff (CDU) *2007–2019: Martin Hußmann (FDP) *2019–incumbent: Markus Oberndörfer (SPD)

Culture and sightseeing

The ''Kurbahn'', which operates on the rails of the former Moortransportbahn in the spa park, provides special access to the town’s and health resort’s history. From April to October, the trains are run by the ''Bad Schwalbacher Kurbahn Verein e.V.'' on all Sundays and holidays. From Moorbadehaus Station the line leads to the Moorgruben by way of Golfhaus, Schwalbenbrunnen and Waldsee. Bad Schwalbach's only museum was reopened in 2002 with new exhibits. Through its exhibits, it attempts to lead visitors through Bad Schwalbach’s history and its life as a health resort. Among other things, the museum includes the

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...

museum, once displayed in private rooms. The pharmacy museum contains the oldest pharmacy in the Taunus (established in 1642), fully furnished. The museum also houses the town archive. Also worth seeing are the seven fountains and many temples, among them the ''Elisabethentempel'', which was endowed by

Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary Duchess Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie in Bavaria (24 December 1837 – 10 September 1898) was Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary from her marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph I on 24 April 1854 until her assassination in 1898. Elisabeth was ...

(Sissi) while she was staying at the spa in Langenschwalbach. It affords a good view over the town. North of the town is found Alexander’s Rest – so called even in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

– a sheltered bench which also serves as a memorial to a British spa visitor who was killed at this spot in a bicycle accident in August 1896 (he is buried at the local cemetery).

Economy and Infrastructure

The largest employer is the Schwälbchen Molkerei Jakob Berz AG (dairy).

Transport

Bad Schwalbach lies on '' Bundesstraße'' 260, also known as the ''Bäderstraße'' (“Bath Road”), as well as ''Bundesstraßen'' 54 and 275. The nearest

Autobahn The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track' ...

interchange is on the A 66 15 km away. There is also another interchange 20 km away at Idstein on the A 3. Bad Schwalbach also lies on the ''Aartalbahn'', but there has been no regular passenger service since 1986, only seasonal railway-museum tours by the ''Nassauische Touristikbahn''. Bad Schwalbach is therefore the only Hessian district seat which is no longer served by rail. There have been efforts to have the line reactivated, yet they have all been unsuccessful so far. This line has been labelled a cultural monument and is Hesse's longest building monument – only the Roman limes, a land monument, is longer.

Education

* Nikolaus-August-Otto-Schule (

comprehensive school A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is re ...

, roughly 1500 students) * Wiedbachschule (

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

) * Janusz-Korczak-Schule (school for help with learning, special education advisory and promotional centre) * Internationale Opernakademie (professional school for opera singers)

Famous people

Sons and daughters of the town

Polyxena of Hesse-Rotenburg Princess Polyxena of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg (Polyxena Christina Johanna; 21 September 1706 – 13 January 1735) was the second wife of Charles Emmanuel, Prince of Piedmont whom she married in 1724. The mother of the future Victor Amadeus II ...

(1706–1735),

Queen of Sardinia This is a list of consorts of the Savoyard monarchs. Countess of Savoy, 1003–1416 Duchess of Savoy, 1416–1713 ;As courtesy title Queen of Sardinia, 1720–1861 Between 1859 and 1861 the Kingdom of Sardinia incorporated the majo ...

Charles Emmanuel, Landgrave of Hesse-Rotenburg Charles Emmanuel, Landgrave of Hesse-Rotenburg (Karl Emanuel; 5 June 1746 – 23 March 1812) was landgrave of Hessen-Rotenburg between 1778 and 1812. He was named after his uncle Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia, husband of his aunt Polyxena of ...

, nephew of the above (1746–1812) * Edmund Heusinger von Waldegg (1817–1886), railway engineer * Otto Frickhoeffer (1892-1968) conductor and composer * Robert Philipp Nöll von der Nahmer (1899–1986), FDP politician * Reinhard Suhren (1916–1984), frigate captain and U-boat commander in the

* Jörg Fauser (1944–1987), journalist and writer * Klaus-Peter Willsch (1961– ), CDU politician * Erol Bulut (1975– ), former footballer and manager * Christian Werner (1979– ), competition cyclist

People associated with the town

* Matthäus Merian the Elder (1593–1650), copper engraver and publisher, died in Bad Schwalbach * Johann Heinrich Fenner von Fenneberg (1774–1849), balneotherapist * Philipp Hoffmann (1806–1889), architect and building master * Adolphus Busch (1839–1913), entrepreneur, died in Lindschied * Paul Wallot (1841–1912), architect of the Reichstag building, died in Bad Schwalbach * Friedrich Delitzsch (1850–1922), Assyriologist, also died here * Julius Lippert (1895–1956) NSdAP Politician, Mayor of Berlin, died in Bad Schwalbach * Bernhard Bendel (1908–1980), founder of the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

organization Opus Spiritus Sancti The Realschule (Hufeisenschule) in what was then called Langenschwalbach was attended from 1846 to 1848 by

Nicolaus Otto Nicolaus August Otto (10 June 1832, Holzhausen an der Haide, Nassau – 26 January 1891, Cologne) was a German engineer who successfully developed the compressed charge internal combustion engine which ran on petroleum gas and led to the mo ...

(1832–1891), the inventor born in nearby Holzhausen an der Haide who developed the

Otto engine The Otto engine was a large stationary single-cylinder internal combustion four-stroke engine designed by the German Nicolaus Otto. It was a low-RPM machine, and only fired every other stroke due to the Otto cycle, also designed by Otto. Typ ...

References

External links

Bad Schwalbach

Museum in Bad Schwalbach
* {{Authority control Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis Spa towns in Germany