Terme Bad Nauheim

Terme Bad Nauheim draws chlorurated and bicarbonated mineral springs in the Wetterau plain of Hesse, in a spa town whose thermal tradition dates to Roman times and whose Jugendstil thermal complex, designed by court architect Wilhelm Jost between 1905 and 1912 and preserved intact, constitutes one of the most complete Art Nouveau architectural ensembles in Germany. The Sprudelhof, the central thermal courtyard surrounded by its mosaic-tiled pump rooms, its cast-iron colonnades, and its ornamental basins fed by naturally carbonated springs, is listed as a monument of national importance and attracted Kaiser Wilhelm II, the young Elvis Presley during his US Army posting from 1958 to 1960, and thousands of European visitors drawn by the springs' internationally recognised properties for circulatory comfort and wellbeing. The naturally carbonated chlorurated springs of Bad Nauheim, developed into a renowned balneotherapy tradition since the 1860s, continue to flow in a Jugendstil setting whose survival represents one of the great pieces of thermal architectural fortune in Europe.