SCHWEIZ / SUISSE / SVIZZERA / SVIZRA	SWITZERLAND
Aargau / Argovie / Argovia / Argovia

map →

Baden is situated at an elevation of 381 m on the left bank on the river Limmat in the Swiss canton Aargau. The popular spa town has a population of about 16,400 (2004).

The hot sulfur springs of Baden were already known by the Romans who called the place Aquae Helveticae. The place was mentioned by Tacitus in his Histories of AD 67. Two year later, in 69, Aquae Helveticae was looted by the XXI Legion. Although the nearby military camp of Vindonissa was abandoned in 101, Aquae Helveticae retained its popularity. The fortress Stein was founded in the 10th century. Stein came in possession of the Habsburgs in 1264 and became one of the most important castle of what today is northern Switzerland. It was the administrative seat of Anterior Austria (see map) and in 1297 was chartered as a town. The Old Swiss Confederacy in 1415 conquered the Aargau region and ordered the demolision of castle Stein. Baden formally obtained the Status of a Free Imperial City, but this had no further consequence, especially since Switzerland deceded from the Holy Roman Empire in 1648. Due to its hot springs, Baden also became one of the most popular sites of diets of the Swiss Confederacy in the 15th and 16th century.

With the foundation in 1785 of the Helvetic Republic, Baden became the capital of the shortlived canton of the same name, which existed until 1803 when it was amalgamated with Fricktal into the canton Aargau. Ennetbaden on the right bank of the river seceded from Baden in 1819 and became an independent municipality. During the following decades the industrialisation changed the life of the town. The railroad "Spanisch-Brötli-Bahn" between Zurich and Baden was opened in 1847, followed by an extension to Brugg in 1856. It was during this period that a new flourishing period for the spa town began. With the opening in 1891 of the Brown, Boveri & Cie. electrical company (today ABB), Baden became a centre of the Swiss electrical industry. In 1962 the neighbouring community of Dättwil and its boroughs of Münzlishausen and Rütihof were incorporated into Baden.

The picture on glass no. 1260 [left] shows the old Kurhaus (Kursaal) of Baden, built in the late 19th century.

See also: Baden (A), Baden-Baden (D).