Baden or Aquae Helveticae forever
21 November 2021
Baden was known as Aquae Helveticae in Roman times. The settlement was already a spa town. Around 850, a Carolingian church was built on today’s Catholic church site.
Baden and bathing in Roman times. Historisches Museum Baden
The Counts of Nellenburg built Stein Castle in the 11th century. They were succeeded by the counts of Lenzburg and, in the 13th century, by the Habsburgs.
The castle in its heyday. Collection: Historisches Museum Baden
The ruins of the castle
The wooden bridge was built in the 13th century. Baden received city rights under Habsburg rule. In 1415, Baden was occupied and became the Untertanengebiet of the Swiss Confederation, which consisted of eight cantons. The Castle was destroyed.
The castle of the Baillif (Landvogteischloss) and the weapons of the eight cantons
The street of the Tagsatzungen, on the corner the armoury (Zeughaus)
The Bernerhaus (1678), until 1798 the residence of the Tagsatzung representatives of Bern
The sovereign cantons met with their representatives in the Tagsatzung in Baden to discuss matters of common interest, including the administration of Aargau.
Rathausgasse and the town hall
The council chamber on the first floor of the town hall served as a meeting hall until 1712. This building on the Rathausgasse was first mentioned in 1368. Around 1500, each of the ten members of the Confederation donated an image of their coat of arms (Basel and Schaffhausen became members in 1501, Appenzeller in 1513).
In 1714, Baden hosted the War of the Spanish Succession’s third and last peace congress. During the five-month negotiations, more than 60 European delegations stayed in Baden.
(Source and further information: www.baden.ch)
After establishing the new Swiss Confederation in 1815, Baden began to prosper again. The spas were renewed and modernised, and gigantic hotels were built, including the Grand Hotel (demolished in 1944), Verenahof, Ochsen and Bären.
From the middle of the 19th century, industrialisation also began, especially with the founding of the Brown Boveri & Cie company in 1891, today’s multinational ABB. This company introduced electric lighting in Switzerland.
In 1847, Baden was the terminus of the first Swiss railway line Zurich-Baden (Spanischbrödlibahn).
Railway station around 1900. Stadtarchiv
The Lambrecht-Wettersäule