Taking the Waters

Well, as my blog mini-series on Aachen concludes, a description of the trip would not be complete without a brief comment on the “other” big reason people have visited Aachen.

Throughout its history, people have come to Aachen “to take the waters”, either by bathing in the warm thermal waters, or drinking its mineral water. During Roman occupation in the 1st and 2nd centuries, Roman baths were established here; during the latter part of the 1800s and early 1900s, Aachen became known as a spa town as wealthy aristocrats flocked to Aachen spas for its healing powers.

Today, most of the spas are located outside the city of Aachen, but tourists still travel to these spas for a little R&R. As for Buddy and I, we did not partake of the spa action this time, however, we did visit the site of the old Roman baths (no longer there). A fountain has been built to commemorate the site as a reminder of the importance of water to the city of Aachen and its development. As warm spring water fuels this fountain, we drank a bit of the water (yep, that is indeed mineral water). We knew we were in the general vicinity of the warm springs before we even arrived, as the sulphuric smell (or, as we say, the smell of rotten eggs) greeted us before we even had the fountain in our sights.



Throughout the city, over 60 fountains of some shape or form have been erected as a testament to this part of the city’s history. As it was, we only saw about 5 or so during our brief trip, and they were all works of art in and of themselves. Here is a sample of a few (I have enlarged the photos so you can see them better).

This fountain features bronze marionettes that represent some aspect of Aachen history.



This fountain shows an Aachen peasant who is stealing chickens, and made the mistake of stealing the crow. The peasant is whirling around to try to quiet the crow.



A classical approach to fountain design.



The "Charlemagne" fountain...