Bad Homburg Healing Springs Walk: The Mineral Springs of the Kurpark
Photo: Johannes Robalotoff / Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 2.0 deJohannes Robalotoff, CC BY-SA 2.0 DE, via Wikimedia Commons
Ludwigsbrunnen
Welcome to the Kurpark of Bad Homburg and to a walk along its healing springs. We begin with the oldest of them, the Ludwigsbrunnen – and its discovery was pure chance. In 1809 two…
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Bad Homburg Healing Springs Walk: The Mineral Springs of the Kurpark
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A walk along the Brunnenallee to seven of the Kurpark's mineral springs, in the order they made history – from the Ludwigsbrunnen found by two children in 1809 to the Kaiser's spring temples – ending at a public tap where you can taste the water.
Tour Introduction
“A walk along the Brunnenallee to seven of the Kurpark's mineral springs, in the order they made history – from the Ludwigsbrunnen found by two children in 1809 to the Kaiser's spring temples – ending at a public tap where you can taste the water.”
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Ludwigsbrunnen
Welcome to the Kurpark of Bad Homburg and to a walk along its healing springs. We begin with the oldest of them, the Ludwigsbrunnen – and its discovery was pure chance. In 1809 two children playing by the Kirdorfer Bach noticed water bubbling out of the ground and tasted it: sour, but refreshing. The spring was quickly…
Kaiserbrunnen
File:Kaiserbrunnen Bad Homburg | 🔗 wikimedia.org
Photo: 4spring / Wikimedia Commons, CC0Wikimedia Commons
File:Bad Homburg Kaiserbrunnen | 🔗 wikimedia.org
Photo: Indiana68 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Wikimedia Commons
Here at the Kaiserbrunnen the water really comes alive. Look under the glass hood and you can see it bubbling up. When this spring was newly drilled in 1841, it was so lively that people simply called it 'der Sprudel', the gusher. The drilling was paid for by the brothers François and Louis Blanc. In 1840 they had been…
Stahlbrunnen
Photo: Indiana68 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Odisea field team / Expedition, All rights reserved (Odisea)
Photo: Dontworry / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
The Stahlbrunnen lies in a small hollow, opposite the casino. Its name means 'steel spring', but it has nothing to do with steel. It refers to the iron in the water. This was the first of the new springs that Jules Ribes struck for the casino company, in the autumn of 1841. The water was sent to the famous chemist Just…
Brunnenallee
File:Bad Homburg – Kurpark, Brunnenallee - panoramio | 🔗 wikimedia.org
Photo: Edgar El / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0Wikimedia Commons
Between the springs runs the Brunnenallee, the 'avenue of springs'. It was laid out in 1835 as the broad main axis linking the springs and was first lined with poplars. Since about 1860 it has been shaded by horse chestnuts, and it is still the backbone of the eastern Kurpark. For spa guests the avenue was part of the …
Kaiserin-Auguste-Viktoria-Brunnen
Photo: Indiana68 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Odisea field team / Expedition, All rights reserved (Odisea)
Photo: Odisea field team / Expedition, All rights reserved (Odisea)
+2 more
This round temple is the Kaiserin-Auguste-Viktoria-Brunnen, and it was very much the Kaiser's own project. The spring was drilled in 1906, but the building was delayed until 1910, partly because Kaiser Wilhelm II insisted on being involved. A sketch of the fountain, which was named after his wife, Empress Auguste Vikto…
Landgrafenbrunnen
Photo: 4spring / Wikimedia Commons, CC0
The Landgrafenbrunnen is the youngest healing spring in the Kurpark, and the saltiest. It was drilled in 1899 on what was then golf-course land and at first was used only for baths. From 1903 doctors also prescribed its very salty water for drinking cures against liver and gall complaints. The spring was newly enclosed…
Louisenbrunnen
Photo: Odisea field team / Expedition, All rights reserved (Odisea)
Photo: Odisea field team / Expedition, All rights reserved (Odisea)
Photo: Odisea field team / Expedition, All rights reserved (Odisea)
Here you might notice the smell before you see the spring. People have long called the Louisenbrunnen the 'Schwefelquelle', the sulphur spring, because of its unusual taste and odour. The spring was drilled in 1856 or 1857 and named after Louise, the wife of Landgrave Gustav. Despite its nickname it became very popular…
Elisabethenbrunnen
Elisabethenbrunnen-Bad-Homburg-JR-G6-1793-2007-08-06 | 🔗 wikipedia.org
Photo: Johannes Robalotoff / Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 2.0 deJohannes Robalotoff, CC BY-SA 2.0 DE, via Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Odisea field team / Expedition, All rights reserved (Odisea)
Photo: Odisea field team / Expedition, All rights reserved (Odisea)
+1 more
This is the Elisabethenbrunnen, the spring that did more than any other to make Bad Homburg a world-famous spa. Its water had been known for a long time. Isaac von Sinclair mentioned it in 1799, but the spring had been used for salt-making and then filled in again. In 1834 the physician Eduard Christian Trapp rediscove…
Elisabethenquelle Tap – Taste the Water
Photo: Dontworry / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Indiana68 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Our walk ends at this simple tap at the edge of the Kurpark. No temple and no marble, just a spout by the path – but this is where you can taste the water of the Elisabethenquelle for yourself. The date of the spring's rediscovery is precisely recorded: 27 June 1834. Dr Trapp's find came at just the right moment. The L…
Tour Information
- Tour Type
- Walking tour
- Audio Language
- English
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