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 so-called Waldeck holiday region, 11 km west of Fritzlar, and 35 km southwest of Kassel. The town, which spreads out east of the Homberg, is crossed by the river Wilde, which empties into the Eder at the constituent municipality of Wega. The constituent municipalities of Wega and Mandern lie on the Eder, on which also lies the Edersee, a reservoir lying only about 10 km northwest of the main town of Bad Wildungen. The river Urff flows through the southwest constituent municipalities of Hundsdorf, Armsfeld and Bergfreiheit.The nearest large towns are Kassel, Marburg and Korbach.
Neighbouring municipalities
Bad Wildungen borders in the north on the municipality of Edertal, in the east on the town of Fritzlar, in the southeast on the town of Bad Zwesten, in the south on the municipality of Haina, and in the west on the town of Frankenau.Constituent municipalities
Besides the main town, which bears the same name as the whole, the town of Bad Wildungen consists of the centres of Albertshausen, Armsfeld, Bergfreiheit, Braunau, Frebershausen, Hüddingen, Hundsdorf, Mandern, Odershausen, Reinhardshausen and Wega.History
Bad Wildungen's first documentary mention came about 800 AD from the Hersfeld Monastery's goods directory under the Latin name "villa Wildungun". This place lay in the Wilde Valley, east of today's main town. About 1200, a castle was built by the Thuringian Landgraves, around which Alt-Wildungen developed. In 1242, Nieder-Wildungen, which had been founded on the hill facing the castle, was granted town rights. From 1263, the castle and the two Wildungen towns were owned by the Counts – later Princes – of Waldeck, who only abdicated after the First World War. In 1358, the two Wildungen towns were mentioned.In 1906, the town of Nieder-Wildungen was given the new name Bad Wildungen because of its bath. In 1940, Bad Wildungen was given the title of "Preußisches Staatsbad".
According to the documentary "The End of the War in Colour", Bad Wildungen was one of the rare smattering of German towns that survived WWII relatively unscathed.
Witch trials
In the time when alleged witches were persecuted, 78 people in Bad Wildungen fell victim to witch trials. At the time, Wildungen had 1200 inhabitants. The persecution came in waves of trials: 1532, 1629 to 1631 and 1650 to 1664.- 1532 First witch trial against Gertraud Muck
- 1575 - 1578 Persecution of "witches"
- 1629 Onset of a period of unheard-of persecution: 29 victims up to 1632.
- 1650 - 1664 a further 38 victims
- 1630 Maria Rörig steadfastly withstood torture from September 1630 to May 1631: "Dear God received her in prison, to Him she would remain faithful, she is innocent like Jesus Christ." Count Christian ordered her release.
- 1656 Trial against Susanne Weber : "Her husband asks that the trial be sped up owing to the costs."
Amalgamations
Politics
Town council
The town council's 38 seats are apportioned thus, in accordance with municipal elections held on 26 March 2006:The town executive consists of the mayor and ten town councillors. Four of these seats are held by the CDU, three by the SPD and one each by the FDP, the FWG and the Greens.
Mayors
At the mayoral election in 2006, the FDP's Volker Zimmermann was elected Bad Wildungen's new mayor with a 58% share of the vote in a run-off. He took over as mayor from his predecessor Reinhard Grieneisen on 1 September 2006.In 2018 Ralf Gutheil was elected, as the new mayor of Bad Wildungen. He replaced Volker Zimmermann who held the office since 2006.
Coat of arms
Bad Wildungen's civic coat of arms is heraldically described as: Sable an eight-pointed mullet Or.Bad Wildungen's earliest known town seal was quite different, dating from 1258 and showing the Count of Thuringia – then the local overlord – astride a steed and kitted out as a knight. The current charge, which is based on the Star of Waldeck, is first known to have appeared in 1262. Some later seals also show a woman in the foot of the shield. The arms appeared with or without the woman over the centuries. In the 18th century, the colours were reversed – the arms were originally Or an eight-pointed mullet Sable – to difference the town's arms from the arms of Waldeck.
Town partnerships
Bad Wildungen maintains partnership links with the following:- Saffron Walden, Essex, United Kingdom since 1986,
- Yichun, Heilongjiang, China since 1988
- Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, département of Savoie in France since 1990.
Culture and sightseeing
Museums
Much that there is to know about the region lies waiting to be discovered in the Quellenmuseum, the Heimatmuseum, the Museum for Military and Hunting History of the Kassel State Museums at Schloss Friedrichstein and the museum at the former mining office and Bertsch visitors' mine.Interested visitors should also have a look at the "Living Museum" in Odershausen, the Lapidarium and the "Galerie am Kump" in Albertshausen.
Theatre
Theatric productions are performed at the Kurhaus Bad Wildungen.Music
Music can be experienced, among other ways, by attending a chamber concert at Schloss Friedrichstein, or going to the Wildungen Music Workshop, a generation-spanning choir. Furthermore, classical, jazz, samba and folk concerts or festivals regularly take place at the Kurhaus and the Schloss.Other events
In 2006, the third Hessian State Garden Show took place in the town.There is a weekly country market in Bad Wildungen. Furthermore, there is a regularly held jazz festival in June, and mid-July brings Kram- und Viehmarkt – a fair with household goods and cattle markets. December is the time for a Christmas market. In September, there is either a samba festival or a flower parade.
Buildings
Above Bad Wildungen stands a Baroque stately home, Schloss Friedrichstein, which was planned by Count Josias II in 1660 and completed between 1707 and 1714 by Prince Friedrich Anton Ulrich zu Waldeck. In the centre stands a late Gothic Evangelical town church from the 14th century. Inside is a winged altarpiece by Konrad von Soest. Furthermore, standing in the town centre and along the Brunnenallee are many villas from the founders' times. The Fürstenhof, an Art Nouveau building like a stately home, once a hotel is today a clinic.Parks
Europe's biggest spa park
In the late 1990s, the Bad Wildungen spa park was connected by a "green bridge" – not natural but made to seem so – to the Reinhardshausen spa park, making one large park now regarded, at 50 ha, as Europe's biggest spa park.Natural monuments
In the Helenental foothills are found the Odershausen Waterfalls, which are well worth seeing. Furthermore, in the woods near Odershausen, near the Jägersburg, stand three old dwarf beeches.Also, the Bilstein Cliffs near Reizenhagen tempt climbers. Bad Wildungen's local mountain, the 518 m-high Homberg, affords the visitor an outstanding panoramic view.
The municipal area's highest mountain, however, is the Wüstegarten, located near Bergfreiheit, one of Bad Wildungen's outlying municipalities. It is disputed as to whether the peak is actually in Bad Wildungen, as the latest survey suggests that it is a few metres outside town limits.
Das Paradies near Albertshausen is not simply called this; hikers will also find this unique forest towards Gellershausen and Kleinern to be something of a paradisiacal treasure.
The 167 km-long Kellerwaldsteig, awarded with the distinction of one of Germany's three finest hiking trails, begins and ends in Bad Wildungen.
In the former Hutewald of Halloh in Albertshausen is a centuries-old beech forest.
Sport
In Bad Wildungen there are two sport clubs, the VFL Bad Wildungen and the TV Friedrichstein. Both clubs have established football and handball associations.Bad Wildungen is also the host to the German amateur snooker championship which is the highest ranking amateur snooker event in Germany.
Culinary specialities
One Waldeck speciality is Schepperlinge, a kind of potato pancake, traditionally served in Bad Wildungen with bacon, onions and black coffee.As is true more or less throughout northern Hesse, the so-called "Ahle Worscht" is an ever-popular dish. The name is Hessian dialect for alte Wurst – "old sausage".