Bad Salzelmen has been a district of

Schönebeck (Elbe) Schönebeck (), officially Schönebeck (Elbe), is a town in the district of Salzlandkreis, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the left bank of the Elbe, approx. southeast of Magdeburg. For much of the twentieth century it was noted ...

since 1932 and is a state-approved spa in the Salzlandkreis in

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It was founded in 1894 when the towns of ''Groß Salze'' and ''Elmen'' merged to form the town of ''Groß Salze''. The town of ''Groß Salze'' was renamed ''Bad Salzelmen'' in 1926.

History

Bad Salzelmen can look back on more than 800 years of salt production history. In Elmen

brine Brine is a high-concentration solution of salt (NaCl) in water (H2O). In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, on the lower end of that of solutions used for br ...

was already mined in the 12th century. With the "white gold" the Pfänner, or later also called ''Salzgrafen'', gained great influence on the town. As a ''Pfännerschaft'', they were not only a commercial association, but also spoke the law as authorities. Parts of the

town wall A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...

from the 14th century, the former

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

from the 15th century and the ''Johanniskirche'' from the middle of the 15th century still bear witness to the wealth and power of the ''Pfänners''. Today the ''Salzlandmuseum'' is located in the town hall. In 1680 the town of ''Groß Salze'' went to the Brandenburg-Prussian Duchy of Magdeburg. ''Groß Salze'' as a so-called ''Immediatstadt'' was directly subordinated to the government of the duchy and lay in the wood circle. Between 1756 and 1765, the

graduation Graduation is the awarding of a diploma to a student by an educational institution. It may also refer to the ceremony that is associated with it. The date of the graduation ceremony is often called graduation day. The graduation ceremony is a ...

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

was built with a total length of 1837 metres, making it the largest ever built. The "Königlich Preußische Saline" (Royal Prussian Salt Works) was the largest state enterprise in

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

at that time. In 1776 the 32 meter high brine

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

was built near the graduation house. It served the brine production by means of a Dutch "wind art". The saltworks were connected to the port of

Schönebeck Schönebeck (), officially Schönebeck (Elbe), is a town in the district of Salzlandkreis, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the left bank of the Elbe, approx. southeast of Magdeburg. For much of the twentieth century it was noted ...

by a company railway. The discovery of the

healing With physical trauma or disease suffered by an organism, healing involves the repairing of damaged tissue(s), organs and the biological system as a whole and resumption of (normal) functioning. Medicine includes the process by which the cells i ...

effect of brine by Johann Wilhelm Tolberg marked the beginning of the history of the spa town of Bad Salzelmen.

's first brine

spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneoth ...

was opened here in 1802. In 1815 Ernst Leopold Fabian was appointed salt inspector. The brine was extracted by underground flushing. The caverns thus created ("Graf-Moltke-Schacht") were later used as underground

inhalation Inhalation (or Inspiration) happens when air or other gases enter the lungs. Inhalation of air Inhalation of air, as part of the cycle of breathing, is a vital process for all human life. The process is autonomic (though there are exceptions ...

rooms and during the last years of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

to store, among other things, museum collections of the

Berlin State Museums The Berlin State Museums (german: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin) are a group of institutions in Berlin, Germany, comprising seventeen museums in five clusters, several research institutes, libraries, and supporting facilities. They are overseen ...

and

archives An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...

of the

Deutsche Akademie The Academy for the Scholarly Research and Fostering of Germandom (''die Akademie zur Wissenschaftlichen Erforschung und Pflege des Deutschtums''), or German Academy (''die Deutsche Akademie'', ), was a German cultural institute founded in 1925 at ...

and the

Prussian Privy State Archives The Secret State Archives Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (german: Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz or ''GStA PK'') is an agency of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation headquartered in Berlin, Germany. A Federal statutor ...

. The extraction of brine for the purpose of salt production was stopped in 1967, but the brine is still the basis for the spa operation. 300.4 metres of the original graduation house are still preserved today, which serve as an open-air inhalatorium. An inhalatorium is attached to the graduation house in a south-westerly direction. The "brine park" with the recreational pool "Solequell", the spa centre "Lindenbad" and the "Kunsthof" (partly in the brine tower) are today attractions for those seeking relaxation and spa guests. The rehabilitation clinic Bad Salzelmen, built in 1995, is the centre of modern rehabilitation medicine in the area of brine treatment.

Notable people from Bad Salzelmen

Katharina Heise Katharina Heise (3 May 1891, Bad Salzelmen – 5 October 1964, Halle) was a German sculptor and illustrator. She provided several woodcuts which were featured on the cover of Die Aktion. After 1917 she focussed more on sculpture. Following the ...

(1891-1964), sculptor and illustrator

Gallery

SalzelmenGradierwerk.jpg, Graduation house with „Windkunst“ (brine pumping station). Schönebeck,Soleturm Salzelmen.jpg, Brine tower. Kurmittelhaus Lindenbad.jpg, Spa resource centre „Lindenbad“. {{coord, 52, 00, N, 11, 43, E, display=title, region:DE_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Towns in Saxony-Anhalt Salzlandkreis