Baden-Baden - Festspielhaus

The springs at Baden-Baden were known to the Romans "Aurelia Aquensis". Ruins of a Roman bath were rediscovered in 1847.

The town, located only a few km off the French border, was a refuge for émigrés from the French Revolution and became popular after the visit of the Prussian queen in the early 19th century. She came for medicinal reasons, as the waters were recommended for gout, rheumatism, paralysis, neuralgia, skin disorders, and stones. From that time on Baden-Baden started to flourish and so became a meeting place for celebrities, who visited the hot springs. The town offered now luxury hotels, the casino and even horse races. Guests included Queen Victoria and Wilhelm I. Under Napoleon III in the 1850s and '60s, Baden became "Europe's summer capital". With a population of around 10 000, the town's size could quadruple during the tourist season, with the French, British, Russians, and Americans all well represented.

Russians loved Baden-Baden (and still do). Fyodor Dostoevsky lost nearly all his money gambling in Baden-Baden (and wrote "The Gambler" about his experience. He met Ivan Turgenev in here - the start of bitter enmity between them.

This neo-classic building was originally built in 1904 as Baden-Baden central railway station, replacing the station from 1845. The building served as a railway station until the closure of the branch line in 1977.

Today this is the facade of the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, as the former station now serves as the entrance hall. The opera hall sits on the trackbed of a former railway station. With a seating capacity of 2,500, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden is Germany’s largest opera and concert house.