ROUTECHARLEMAGNEAACHEN

The „Spa Culture“ station on the Route Charlemagne

THEELISENBRUNNEN

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The Route CharlemagneThe ElisenbrunnenSpa culture in AachenThe ElisengartenThe Archaeological ShowcaseCombs carved from boneArchaeological windowsInformationImprint

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Aachen‘s Elisenbrunnen (Elise‘s Fountain) owes its name to a princess. Elisabeth Ludovika, known as Elise, was one of the daughters of King Maximilian I of Bavaria. On 29 November 1823 she married the future King of Prus-sia, Frederick William IV, and the Aachen Town Council commemorated this occasion by dedicating a fountain to the bride. It was completed four years later. A bust of the beautiful princess can still be seen in the fountain‘s rotunda.

Aachen‘s Route Charlemagne connects signifi cant locations around the city to create a path through history leading from the past into the future. At the centre of the Route Charlemagne is the former palace complex of Charlemagne, with the Town Hall, the Katschhof and the Cathedral – once the focal point of an empire of European proportions.

Aachen is a historical town, a centre of science, and a European city whose story can be seen as a history of Europe. This and other ma-jor themes like religion, power and media are refl ected and explored in places like the Cathedral and the Town Hall, the International Newspaper Museum, the Grashaus, the Couven Museum, the Super C of the RWTH Aachen University and the Elisenbrunnen, which represents the topic of spa culture in Aachen.

The central starting point of the Route Charlemagne is the CentreCharlemagne, the new city museum located on the Katschhof between the Town Hall and the Cathedral. Here, visitors can get detailed information about all the stations and sights on the Route Charlemagne.

The Route Charlemagne

For Elise

The Route Charlemagne

Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria (1801 – 1873)

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Like the Romans before him, Charlemagne treasured Aachen for its sulphurous thermal springs. “He enjoyed the exhalations from natural warm springs“, his bio-grapher Einhard reports. “He used not only to invite his sons to his bath, but his nobles and friends, and now and then a troop of his retinue or body guard, so that a hundred or more persons sometimes bathed with him.“ In later centuries, prominent fi gures from all over Europe followed the Franconian emperor‘s example and visited the thermal spas in Aachen and Burtscheid to treat their illnesses: Tsar Peter the Great, the composer George Frideric Handel, the Prussian king Frederick the Great, the Swedish king Gustav III and Napoleons wife the Empress Josephine, to name but a few.

Today, the Elisenbrunnen is the most signifi cant relic of Aachen‘s history as a prestigious health resort and spa. The white marble building was constructed be-tween 1822 and 1827, a few years after Aachen came under Prussian rule. Designed by Johann Peter Cremer and Karl Friedrich Schinkel, the fountain building in classical style was erected on the remains of the med-ieval Barbarossa‘s Wall. The central rotunda is fl anked with colonnades to the left and right, each leading to an atrium.

From 1824 to 1938, a drinking fountain sourced from the nearby “Emperor‘s Spring“ was located on the lower fl oor of the rotunda with two wide fl ights of stairs leading down to it. Today, the hot (46°C) highly sulphurous thermal spring water fl ows from two ground-fl oor drinking fountains. Schinkel had originally envisaged decorating the interior with paintings, but this idea was dropped in favour of stucco reliefs. Four marble tablets, installed in the interior room in 1883, list the most famous spa guests to visit Aachen up to 1819. The left atrium served as a function room for spa

An imperial spa

guests and a restaurant. Initially, the right atrium housed a music room and a refreshment room for spa guests, then from 1886 a billiards room. In the summer of 1943 the Elisenbrunnen was almostcompletely destroyed by aerial bombs and was faithfully recon-struct ed between 1948 and 1953.

The Elisenbrunnen

In the mid-1950s, thermal spring water was also dispensed in the left wing of the Elisenbrunnen.

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Aachen‘s most important natural capital is its mineral-rich thermal water, which surfaces through more than 30 springs within the town boundaries, reaching a temperature of 50°C. The thermal springs in the suburb of Burtscheid are even hotter, at more than 74°C.

From when the Romans built a first settlement in the Aachen basin in the last century BC, they exploited the healing properties of the hot springs. Where the Hof stands today, they erected a first thermal spa, followed later by more spas at Büchel, on the site of today‘s Cathedral and probably also on the Market Place. Even after the end of the Roman period in the middle of the 5th Century, it would seem that parts of these large spa complexes remained intact.

From at least 765 on, the Carolingian kings of Franconia used Aachen as their winter palace. Aachen‘s thermal springs gave Charlemagne relief from the ailments of old age, and so he took to spending the whole year there.

Aachen‘s earliest known name, “Aquis“, reflects the importance for the township of the thermal springs and the ancient tradition of healing. And the legends of Aachen‘s foundation by the Romans and Charlemagne are also closely linked to its hot springs.

In the Middle Ages and early modern era, more thermal springs were made accessible at other locations in the town, and new bathhouses and infirmaries were built. Aachen‘s clothmakers used the hot thermal water to full and rinse the wool after dyeing.

In the 17th century, under the influence of the spa doc-tor Franciscus Blondel, Aachen‘s heyday as a renowned

health and spa resort began. Its thermal water was used more for internal and external treatment of rheumatism, inflammations and skin diseases, organ damage, poisoning, syphilis, asthma, mental distress and other ailments. Aachen was transformed into a fashion-able health and spa resort. A luxury spa complex was erected around Komphausbadstraße for distinguished guests from all over Europe. A multitude of new spa buildings, bath houses, parks, prom-enades, drinking fountains, hotels and ballrooms dominated the townscape in the 18th and 19th century. Spa guests devoted their time to theatre, dancing, gambling and other amusements.

During the First World War, a new spa district with a large spa com-plex and a luxury hotel was built around Monheimsallee. A number of bath complexes were destroyed in the Second World War, and the last grand spas closed down between 1960 and 2000. The remaining therapeutic baths in operation today are to be found in the special clinics in Burtscheid. The “Carolus Thermen“ spa, which opened in 2001, resumes the long tradition of spa culture in Aachen.

Spa culture in Aachen

The Elisenbrunnen

The Elisenbrunnen on Friedrich-Wilhelm-Platz

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An oasis for all

The Elisengarten

An oasis of tranquillity in the centre of town, accessible for everyone – this was not always the case. A glance at old town maps reveals that today‘s Elisengarten is a conglomeration of formerly separate properties and private gardens. Its shape has changed repeatedly over time. For example, until 1787 there was a building owned by the Benedictine cloisters of Stavelot-Malmedy on the corner of Hartmannstraße/Ursulinerstraße – two historical streets already mentioned in documents from the High Middle Ages and possibly even part of the original Roman road network. A residential building erected here was transformed in 1813 into a Bishop‘s Palace with a garden and served during Prussian rule as the seat of the newly created administrative district of Aachen.

The eastern part of today‘s park was cultivated from 1651 as the cloister garden of the Ursuline Order. After the nuns were forced to give up their cloister in Napo-leonic times, it was used as the main customs house. In 1851 the building was demolished.

In 1822, when construction started on the Elisenbrunnen, the land between Hartmannstraße, Ursulinerstraße and

Friedrich-Wilhelm-Platz was almost totally built up. The only garden was on the grounds of the former Ursuline cloister. It was there that, in 1852/53, a small inner-city park was established according to plans drafted by the director of horticulture, Peter Joseph Lenné, whose work dominated the garden design scene in Prussia for almost half a century. At that time this was the only public park in town – apart from a little garden behind the ballroom in Kurhaus-straße. For a while, a second drinking fountain was installed here for spa guests.

Private houses still stood along the park side of Hartmannstraße un-til the air raids in the Second World War. On historical pictures from the 19th century, buildings rise up directly behind the Elisenbrunnen. One of them was the fountain custodian‘s house.

The new Elisengarten was laid out in 2009 by landscape architects of the Berlin agency Lützow 7. They created seating terraces and, along the back of the rotunda, a water feature. On sunny days, the lawn with its small fountain – here the architects are alluding to the fountain of the Prussian era – invites visitors to linger. In spring and summer, fl owering and scented plants transform the garden into a paradise for the senses.

Fountain in the Elisengarten – around 1900 and today

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Flintstone and medical instruments

The Archaeological Showcase

Important archaeological fi nds are constantly being made during excavation work all over Aachen, and the grounds of the Elisengarten are no exception. Systema-tic digs here between 2007 and 2010 unearthed about 70,000 archaeologically signifi cant objects dating from the Neolithic through to the late Middle Ages. The “Archaeological Showcase“, which was built by kadawittfeldarchitektur, offers views into 60 m2 of the original 2000 m2 excavation site.

The oldest fi nds to be seen here date from the Middle Neolithic period (4700-4550 BC): a stone on which a fl int worker would have sat, and half-fi nished stone axes. The axe blades were fashioned from fl int that was already being quarried on Lousberg from the 4th millennium BC on.

In the early Roman period, Aachen covered 20 to 30 hectares. The excavations show that the inhabitants at that time lived in half-timbered houses. In the course of

the 1st century AD, they even erected the fi rst few stone buildings with tiled roofs and painted walls. Luxury living in Roman times included wall and underfl oor heating (hypocaustum). The Archaeo-logical Showcase features remnants of this kind of heating system from the 3rd century AD.

In the 2nd and 3rd century AD, “Aquae Granni“ was a fl ourishing township full of craftsmen and traders, its greatest attraction being its hot springs. All around Büchel, a complex of thermal baths and temples arose. One of the buildings whose remnants archaeolo -gists found in the Elisengarten was probably a hostel where spa visitors and patients would have spent time in heated rooms each meas uring 12 m2. Probes for the treatment of wounds and a pair of locking forceps unearthed on the site indicate that medical treat-ment was provided here.

In the 2nd century, a small temple (aedicula) was built inside the hostel. We do not know which deity the inhabitants worshipped there. By the end of the 2nd century, the temple had fallen into disuse.

Celtic glass armband, 3rd to 1st century BC

Built with the generous support of:

Archaeological Showcase

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Combs carved from bone

Children‘s toys from the 16th centuryBack to the Stone Age layer by layer. The archaeological excavations in the Elisengarten took three years to complete.

The Archaeological Showcase

Some of the original Roman buildings continued to be inhabited until well into the Early Middle Ages. At the latest from the 8th century onwards, a palace complex arose, parts of it within the late Roman fortifi cations. Charlemagne had St Mary‘s Church built around 800. Remnants of a grave and part of a cellar date from Carolingian times.

Norman raids in the late 9th century may well be the rea-son for the decline of Aachen‘s population in the 10th and 11th centuries. Around 1100, the number of inhabi-tants increased again sharply. The last remnants of the Roman walls were demolished. The stones were used for new buildings, for example for the so-called town house (Stadthof) of the twin abbey of Stavelot-Malmedy, from which large portions of wall have been preserved. In the former Roman foundation trenches, waste materials from a bone and antler carving workshop were found. Craftsmen used such materials to fashion tool handles, needles, combs or chess pieces.

Starting in 1171, the fi rst city wall, Barbarossa‘s Wall, was erected around the medieval township. The course of the wall is traced in the cobblestones along the rear side of today‘s Elisenbrunnen.

In a cistern located outside the scope of the showcase, archaeologists discovered small clay and stone marbles. These were used in children‘s games, but also as ammu-nition for special blowpipes to hunt birds with.

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Information

aachen tourist informationFriedrich-Wilhelm-Platz52062 AachenTel: + 49 (0)241 18029-60 or -61Mon. – Fri. 9 am to 6 pm, Sat. 9 am to 2 pmFrom Easter to Christmas also open Sundays and public holidays: Sat. 9 am to 3 pm, Sun. 10 am to 2 pmwww.aachen-tourist.de

www.route-charlemagne.eu

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Archaeological windows

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In addition to the large-scale Archaeological Showcase in the Elisengarten [1], other smaller archaeological windows can be found at various locations in town. They offer views into the thousands of years of Aachen‘s history. Here are four examples within easy walking distance of the Elisenbrunnen.

Up to the year 1330, on the site of today‘s Town Hall [2] stood the central building of Charlemagne‘s Aachen Palace. The window there shows Carolingian masonry. You can see how older stones were recycled in its con-struction, like this fragment of a Roman gravestone.

Between the shelves of a chemist‘s shop in Ursuliner-straße [3], two windows are set into the fl oor. They show the remains of a 2000-year-old portico whose columns have been re-erected in the Hof.

Remains of Roman thermal baths can be viewed in Buchkremerstraße [4]. The 18 ton, two metre high and 2.6 metre wide fragment of an apse is exhibited in the window of a bookshop there.

The Aachen Cathedral [5] was built on the site of Roman thermal baths. In the northwest and southwest yokes of the gallery, glass plates in the fl oor offer a view of remains of an underfl oor heating system, a drain and a cold bath (frigidarium) from Roman times, as well as the foundations of the Carolingian church. Another window shows the original fl agstone fl oor of Carolingian times.

For more information, visit www.zeitreise.ac

Imprint

City of Aachen The Lord MayorFachbereich Presse und MarketingHaus Löwenstein, Markt 3952062 AachenTel: + 49 (0)241 / 432-1309presse@mail.aachen.dewww.aachen.de

EditorDr. Jutta Göricke

TextDr. Jutta Göricke, Dr. Werner Tschacher

PhotoAndreas Hermann, Peter Hinschläger, Ann Münchow, Andreas Schaub

DesignMaurer United Architects, 2010 / Wesentlich.com, 2013

Price 1,- Euro