Bad Oeynhausen () is a

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath, Somerset, Ba ...

on the southern edge of the

Wiehengebirge The Wiehen HillsElkins, T.H. (1972). ''Germany'' (3rd ed.). London: Chatto & Windus, 1972. . (, , also locally, just ''Wiehen'') are a hill range in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony in Germany. The hills run from west to east like a long f ...

in the district of

Minden-Lübbecke Minden-Lübbecke is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the northeastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Diepholz (district), Diepholz, Nienburg (district), Nienburg, Schaumburg, Lippe, Herford (district), Herford, Osnabr ...

in the East-Westphalia-Lippe region of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The closest larger towns are

Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region () of Detmold (region), Detmold and the L ...

(39 kilometres southwest) and

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

(80 km east).

History

In the village of Bergkirchen, which belongs to Bad Oeynhausen, a wellspring sanctuary existed in pre-Christian (Saxon) times at the local crossing of the

, which was replaced in the 9th century by a church. Today's church is a subsequent building. On the church and the downhill-situated

Widukind Widukind, also known as Wittekind and Wittikund, was a leader of the Saxons and the chief opponent of the Frankish king Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars from 777 to 785. Charlemagne ultimately prevailed, organized Saxony as a Frankish provinc ...

spring plates explain this further. A few metres from the church a 13th-century timbered homestead can still be found. In 753

Pepin the Short the Short (; ; ; – 24 September 768), was King of the Franks from 751 until his death in 768. He was the first Carolingian dynasty, Carolingian to become king. Pepin was the son of the Frankish prince Charles Martel and his wife Rotrude of H ...

, according to the

Royal Frankish Annals The ''Royal Frankish Annals'' (Latin: ''Annales regni Francorum''), also called the ''Annales Laurissenses maiores'' ('Greater Lorsch Annals'), are a series of annals composed in Latin in Carolingian Francia, recording year-by-year the state of ...

, stopped over ''ad locum qui dicitur Rimiae'', so that Rehme is commonly accepted as the oldest part of town. The

origin myth An origin myth is a type of myth that explains the beginnings of a natural or social aspect of the world. Creation myths are a type of origin myth narrating the formation of the universe. However, numerous cultures have stories that take place a ...

of Bad Oeynhausen relates that in 1745 a local farmer named Sültemeyer noticed that after his pigs had wallowed in nearby mud they had a salty crust on their backs and he decided to investigate the source. After public awareness of this finding, King

Frederick II of Prussia Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself '' King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prus ...

ordered the construction of a saltworks, which was named "Royal Saline Neusalzwerk". Today's Sültemeyer Fountain (colloquial: Pig-Fountain), in the city centre, is a reminder of the city's beginning. After 1830, mining captain Carl Baron of Oeynhausen (1795–1865) oversaw drilling in today's spa garden area in search of salt deposits, but instead found a thermal salt spring in 1845. Quickly the healing abilities of this spring were discovered and first baths were built in the community, which now was called "Neusalzwerk near Rehme". In 1848 King

Frederick William IV of Prussia Frederick William IV (; 15 October 1795 – 2 January 1861), the eldest son and successor of Frederick William III of Prussia, was King of Prussia from 7 June 1840 until his death on 2 January 1861. Also referred to as the "romanticist on the th ...

renamed it to "Royal Bath (German: Bad) Oeynhausen", and this name was retained after receiving its own town charter in 1860. The opening of the

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the largest town in population between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district () of Minden-Lübbecke, situated in the cultural region ...

railway line in 1847 connected the city with railroad network. The growth of spa activities and the town's development continued into World War II. Among other things the Kurpark (spa garden), according to plans by Peter Joseph Lenné, and the Kurhaus (spa hotel) in 1908 (from 1980 to 2002 a Casino was located here; today called the Kaiserpalais, it hosts a Varieté, a noble restaurant and a discothèque) were constructed. At the beginning of the 20th century residential houses for the

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...

were built around the spa garden. The extraordinary conglomeration of different architectural styles of the spa garden's buildings and the surrounding mansions bestowed Bad Oeynhausen the unofficial title "Museum for the Architecture of the 19th Century". One of the most famous buildings, the "Farne-Villa" was replaced by a new building in 1969. In the first half of the 20th century additional thermal salt springs were drilled. Among these the ''Jordansprudel'', drilled in 1926, is best known and with a capacity of 6000 L/min and a total height of up to 40 m it is the world's highest carbonated thermal salt spring and de facto the town's landmark. Under

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

, Bad Oeynhausen hosted a synod of the

Confessing Church The Confessing Church (, ) was a movement within German Protestantism in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to unify all of the Protestant churches into a single pro-Nazi German Evangelical Church. See dro ...

, as well as the home congregation to Jakob Emil Karl Koch, a leading member. The

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

tank factory of the town was bombed on 30 March 1945. Post-war, the town hosted the Control Commission for Germany – British Element (CCG/BE), the

military government A military government is any government that is administered by a military, whether or not this government is legal under the laws of the jurisdiction at issue or by an occupying power. It is usually administered by military personnel. Types of m ...

for the British Zone of Occupation and served as the

British Army of the Rhine British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) was the name given to British Army occupation forces in the Rhineland, West Germany, after the First and Second World Wars, and during the Cold War, becoming part of NATO's Northern Army Group (NORTHAG) tasked ...

headquarters. The town was returned to local control in 1954 and spa activities resumed. In 1973, the seven surrounding municipalities Wulferdingsen, Volmerdingsen, Werste, Eidinghaisen, Dehme, Rehme and Lohe of the former "Amt Rehme" were merged with Bad Oeynhausen into one commune. The "State-owned Spa Bad Oeynhausen" (), property of the state of

, was municipalised in 2004.

Geography

Bad Oeynhausen is located on the left bank of the

Weser The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports o ...

river. It has the world's most highly carbonated thermal saltwater fountain, the ''Jordansprudel''. On calm days the fountain gets up to 40 metres high. The water of the spring is believed to have many medicinal qualities, giving rise to a number of health spas.

Land use

A large percentage of the area is used for agriculture: This applies to the entire district of

, where the majority of the land is used for agriculture.

Districts

Bad Oeynhausen consists of 8 districts:

Climate

The climate in Bad Oeynhausen is controlled by the

Oceanic Climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

. The values are based on the ones from Herford (Temperature) and the ones in Bad Oeynhausen (Precipitation)

Notable buildings

Bad Oeynhausen built a mall called the "Werre-Park". It gets its name from the nearby river

Werre The Werre () is a river in the Detmold region (Regierungsbezirk) of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, left tributary of the Weser. Its source is near Horn-Bad Meinberg. The total length of the Werre is 71.9 km. The Werre flows generally nor ...

and was opened on 1 April 1998. Bad Oeynhausen Werre-Park 2011

Demographics

¹ census result

Health treatment facilities

There are a number of health treatment facilities in Bad Oeynhausen. The Maternus Rehabilitation Clinic deals with rehabilitation for orthopedic, degenerative, and neurological conditions. The Klinik am Korso deals with eating disorders. The Median Rehabilitation Clinic specializes on rehabilitation for Muslim patients. The Heart and Diabetes Center North Rhine-Westphalia, an institution of the Ruhr University Hospitals, is a world-leading institution for the treatment of cardiac, circulatory and metabolic diseases. Just outside the city lies the Klinik Bad Oexen, a rehabilitation center for cancer patients.

Twin towns – sister cities

Bad Oeynhausen is twinned with: *

Fismes Fismes () is a Communes of France, commune in the Marne (department), Marne Departments of France, department in the Grand Est region of north-eastern France. The commune has been awarded three flowers in the ''Concours des villes et villages fl ...

, France *

Inowrocław Inowrocław (; , ) is a city in central Poland with a total population of 68,101 (as of December 2022). It is situated in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. It is one of the largest and most historically significant cities within the historic re ...

, Poland

Notable people

* August von Borries (1852–1906), railway engineer * Wilhelm Schlüter, politician (1871–1930), ( SPD) * Fritz Tarnow (1880–1951), trade unionist and politician ( SPD) * Friedrich Altemeier (1886–1968), fighter pilot in WWI * Walther Ludwig (1902–1981), opera singer (tenor) * Arnold Büscher (1899-1949), commandant of the Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp * F. Wolfgang Schnell (1913–2006), agronomist * Siegfried Linkwitz (born 1935), engineer * Christian Berg (born 1966), author and composer * Torben Giehler (born 1973), painter * Arne Friedrich (born 1979), former footballer of German national team

Associated with the town

* Peter Joseph Lenné (1789–1866), landscape architect, designed the park * Eduard Hoffmann (1832–1894), entrepreneur * Friedrich Christoph Pelizaeus (1851–1942), neurologist * Karl Koch (1876–1951), Superintendent, President of the Evangelical Church of Westphalia * Kurt Thomas (1904–1973), composer and choirmaster *

Reinhart Koselleck Reinhart Koselleck (23 April 1923 – 4 February 2006) was a German historian. He is widely considered to be one of the most important historians of the 20th century. He occupied a distinctive position within history, working outside of any pre- ...

(1923–2006), historian *

Frank Gehry Frank Owen Gehry ( ; ; born February 28, 1929) is a Canadian-American architect and designer. A number of his buildings, including his private residence in Santa Monica, California, have become attractions. Gehry rose to prominence in th ...

(born 1929), architect, designed two buildings for Bad Oeynhausen *

Jochen Fahrenberg Jochen Fahrenberg (born 18 September 1937 in Berlin) is a German psychologist in the fields of Personality, psychophysiology and philosophy of science. Biography Jochen Fahrenberg studied psychology, sociology and philosophy in Freiburg, London an ...

(born 1937), personality psychologist and psychophysiologist * Ingo Petzke (born 1947), filmmaker and author * Roland Pröll (born 1949), pianist, conductor, composer * René Müller (born 1959), footballer

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Towns in North Rhine-Westphalia Spa towns in Germany Minden-Lübbecke