Bad Zwesten is a municipality in the

Schwalm-Eder Schwalm-Eder is an electoral constituency ( German: ''Wahlkreis'') represented in the Bundestag. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 169. It is loca ...

district of

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Geography

Location

Bad Zwesten lies about 8 km southeast of

Bad Wildungen Bad Wildungen () is a state-run spa and a small town in Waldeck-Frankenberg district in Hesse, Germany. It is located on the German Timber-Frame Road. Geography Location Bad Wildungen lies in the eastern foothills of the Kellerwald range in the ...

on the river Schwalm, which belongs to the Eder

watershed Watershed may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, an area of land where surface water converges (North American usage) Music * Watershed Music Festival, an annual country ...

. North of the community begins the

Kellerwald The Kellerwald is a low mountain range reaching heights of up to 675 m in the western part of northern Hesse, Germany. Its assets include Germany's largest contiguous beech woodland and it contains Hesse's only national park, the Kellerwald-Ederse ...

-Edersee Nature Park.

Constituent communities

* Betzigerode * Niederurff * Oberurff-Schiffelborn * Wenzigerode * Zwesten (administrative seat)

History

Zwesten had its first documentary mention about the year 800. In 1913 came the discovery of a

mineral spring Mineral springs are naturally occurring springs that produce 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 ...

, which in 1960 was officially declared a recognized ''Heilquelle'' (≈health spring). Within the framework of municipal reform in Hesse, the formerly independent communities of Betzigerode, Niederurff, Oberurff-Schiffelborn, Wenzigerode, and Zwesten were amalgamated into the new, united community of Zwesten in 1972. In 1992, the community was granted official recognition as a spa, allowing it to prefix the designation ''Bad'' –

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

for "bath" – to its name.

Politics

Municipal council

Municipal representation consists of 23 members. * CDU 6 seats *

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together wi ...

10 seats * Greens 3 seats *FWG (citizens' coalition) 2 seats *Bürgerliste (citizens' coalition) 2 seats (as of municipal elections on 26 March 2006)

Economy

The spa of Bad Zwesten bases its burgeoning prosperity on its ''Löwensprudel'' ("Lion's Fizzy Water"). In this spa town, two clinics are to be found, Hardtwald Clinics I and II with about 650 beds.

Transport

Bad Zwesten lies at the crossroads of Federal Highways (''Bundesstraßen'') B 3 and B 485. About 5 km from the community is the Borken/Bad Zwesten interchange with Autobahn A 49 (

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

–

Fritzlar Fritzlar () is a small town (pop. 15,000) in the Schwalm-Eder-Kreis, Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse, Germany, north of Frankfurt, with a storied history. The town has a medieval center ringed by a wall with numerous watch towers. high ...

–

Marburg Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...

). The community belongs to the North Hesse Transport Network (''Nordhessischer Verkehrsverbund'') which, among other things, runs a hailed shared taxi to Borken railway station on the Main-Weser Railway.

Literature

*Martin Opfer: ''Zwesten : Betzigerode, Niederurff, Oberurff, Schiffelborn und Wenzigerode ; Bilder und Texte erzählen, wie es damals war'', Wartberg-Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 1989,

References

External links

Bad Zwesten
{{Authority control Spa towns in Germany Schwalm-Eder-Kreis