Bad Vöslau (;

Central Bavarian Central or Middle Bavarian form a subgroup of Bavarian dialects in large parts of Austria and the German state of Bavaria along the Danube river, on the northern side of the Eastern Alps. They are spoken in the ' Old Bavarian' regions of Upper ...

: ''Bod Vöslau'') 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 ...

and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the state of

Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...

. It is also known as the cradle of the Austrian red wine cultivation. The population, as of 2022, is 12,424.

Geography

Bad Vöslau is located 35 km south of

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

on the slope of the

Vienna Woods The Vienna Woods (, ) are forested highlands that form the northeastern foothills of the Northern Limestone Alps in the states of Lower Austria and Vienna. The and range of hills is heavily wooded and a popular recreation area with the Viennese ...

mountains to the

Vienna Basin The Vienna Basin (, , , Hungarian: ''Bécsi-medence'') is a geologically young tectonic burial basin and sedimentary basin in the seam area between the Alps, the Carpathians and the Pannonian Plain. Although it topographically separates the Al ...

. The ''Thermenlinie''

fault line In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...

running there is the cause of several thermal springs.

Municipality Structure

The municipality of Bad Vöslau is composed of three localities and cadastral communities, namely the

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

of Bad Vöslau, and the villages of Gainfarn and Großau.

History

Traces of colonization dating back to the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

period have been found in the area. In the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

era the place was a part of the province of

Pannonia Pannonia (, ) was a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, on the west by Noricum and upper Roman Italy, Italy, and on the southward by Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia and upper Moesia. It ...

. Already then, people made use of the thermal springs in the area. The name “Vöslau” (as in: ''Adololdus de Veselove'') was first found in a written document of

Klosterneuburg Monastery Klosterneuburg Abbey () is a twelfth-century Augustinian monastery of the Catholic Church located in the town of Klosterneuburg in Lower Austria. Overlooking the Danube, just north of the present Vienna city limits at the Leopoldsberg, the monas ...

dating from 1136. At that time, the settlement was only a castle that was encircled by a ditch. It was destroyed by King

Matthias Corvinus Matthias Corvinus (; ; ; ; ; ) was King of Hungary and King of Croatia, Croatia from 1458 to 1490, as Matthias I. He is often given the epithet "the Just". After conducting several military campaigns, he was elected King of Bohemia in 1469 and ...

in 1483, but was subsequently rebuilt. It became of great significance during the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

movement. During the

Counter-Reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also sometimes called the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to, and as an alternative to or from similar insights as, the Protestant Reformations at the time. It w ...

the parish of Vöslau was incorporated in neighbouring Gainfarn parish. In the 18th century, the Vöslau dominion was purchased by the influential Fries family. Count Johann von Fries, whose

vineyard A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

s were situated around Vöslau, was the first to grow red wine on a large scale in this region. Under the Fries family, Vöslau flourished. The old castle was expanded and remodelled in

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

style. After Count Moritz von Fries had gone bankrupt in 1826, Giorgios Sinas acquired the dominion and palace of Vöslau, but sold it to Johann Heinrich von Geymüller the Younger, a Swiss banker, just one year later. In 1833, Geymüller established the Vöslau

worsted Worsted ( or ) is a high-quality type of wool yarn, the fabric made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from Worstead (from Old English ''Wurðestede'', "enclosure place"), a village in the English county of Norfolk. T ...

wool factory ''(Vöslauer Kammgarnfabrik)'', which became a major source of employment in Vöslau until it was closed down in 1978. In 1841, the Southern Railway to (then) Neunkirchen was opened, so that Vöslau could now be reached by train via (now) Bad Vöslau railway station. In the second half of the 19th century, tourism became another major economic sector. Wealthy families used to spend the summer months in rented houses with their entire households. For this purpose, villas were built on the slopes west of the village centre. In 1822, a first public bath was opened; large portions of it were rebuilt between 1869 and 1873 by architect

Theophil Hansen Baron Theophil Edvard von Hansen (; original Danish name: Theophilus Hansen, ; 13 July 1813 – 17 February 1891) was a Danish architect who later became an Austrian citizen. He became particularly well known for his buildings and structures in ...

. On 26 August 1867 the Treaty of Vöslau was signed between the

Kingdom of Greece The Kingdom of Greece (, Romanization, romanized: ''Vasíleion tis Elládos'', pronounced ) was the Greece, Greek Nation state, nation-state established in 1832 and was the successor state to the First Hellenic Republic. It was internationally ...

and the

Principality of Serbia The Principality of Serbia () was an autonomous, later sovereign state in the Balkans that came into existence as a result of the Serbian Revolution, which lasted between 1804 and 1817. Its creation was negotiated first through an unwritten agre ...

. In 1904 Vöslau was officially declared a spa town; the name of the municipality, though, was not until 1928 changed to ''Bad'' Vöslau (by resolution of the ''Landtag'' of Lower Austrian he state parliamentof 27 March 1928). The public swimming baths were again rebuilt and were opened on 20 June 1926, with Federal President Michael Hainisch attending. In 1936, a company was founded to merchandise the thermal water, which is being sold under the brand name Vöslauer (add: ''Mineralwasser,'' i. e. mineral water) since then. Wine-growing is also another important part of the economy. The

red wine Red wine is a type of wine made from dark-colored grape varieties - (red grapes.) The color of the wine can range from intense violet, typical of young wines, through to brick red for mature wines and brown for older red wines. The juice fro ...

and the

sparkling wine Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While it is common to refer to this as champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that word for products exclusively produced in the Champagne ( ...

from Vöslau were made famous worldwide by Robert Schlumberger in the 19th century. In 1954, Bad Vöslau became a

. In the same year, the

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

"Vöslauer Stadtsiegel" was created. On 1 January 1972 the neighbouring municipalities of Gainfarn and Großau were incorporated into Bad Vöslau.

Populations

Politics

The Bad Vöslau city council ''(Gemeinderat)'' consists of 37 seats. As of the 2020 elections, these are allocated as follows: * 19 Liste Flammer (an independent party founded by Alfred Flammer) * 7

GREEN Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

* 4

ÖVP The Austrian People's Party ( , ÖVP ) is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria. Since January 2025, the party has been led by Christian Stocker (as an acting leader). It is currently the second-largest p ...

* 3

SPÖ The Social Democratic Party of Austria ( , SPÖ) is a social democratic political party in Austria. Founded in 1889 as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (, SDAPÖ) and later known as the Socialist Party of Austria () from 1945 unt ...

* 2

FPÖ The Freedom Party of Austria (, FPÖ) is a political party in Austria, variously described as far-right, right-wing populist, national-conservative, and Eurosceptic. It has been led by Herbert Kickl since 2021. It is the largest of five par ...

* 2 NEOS In December 2022, Christian Flammer succeeded Christoph Prinz, who stepped down, as mayor.

Personalities

* Johann von Fries (1719–1785): The counts of Fries were, with an interruption, from 1773 to 1902 owner of the Vöslau dominion and both historically and economically of greatest importance for the development of the place * Ami Boué (1794–1881) came from an emigrated French

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

family, traveled all over Europe as a geologist and ethnologist between 1812 and 1839. He wrote nine essays about the Vöslau springs between 1841 and 1874. He is buried in a crypt in the Vöslau cemetery. * Robert Schlumberger von Goldeck (1814–1879), promotor of wine growing, was the first in Austria to produce sparkling wine by the traditional method of

Champagne wine region The wine region within the historical province of Champagne in the northeast of France is best known for the production of champagne, the sparkling white wine that bears the region's name. EU law and the laws of most countries reserve the term ...

in his Vöslau winery * Ferdinand Piatnik (1819–1885), Austrian- Hungarian card painter, manufacturer, philanthropist, founder of Piatnik & Söhne * Jacob Levy Moreno (1889–1974) was a physician in the city between 1918 and 1925. He was the founder of

sociometry Sociometry is a quantitative method for measuring Social relation, social relationships. It was developed by psychotherapy, psychotherapist Jacob L. Moreno and Helen Hall Jennings in their studies of the relationship between social structures an ...

group psychotherapy Group psychotherapy or group therapy is a form of psychotherapy in which one or more therapists treat a small group of clients together as a group. The term can legitimately refer to any form of psychotherapy when delivered in a group format, i ...

and "

psychodrama Psychodrama is an action method, often used as a psychotherapy, in which clients use spontaneous Adaptation (arts), dramatization, role playing, and dramatic self-presentation to investigate and gain insight into their lives. Developed by Jaco ...

". He lived and worked in the house Maital 4. He emigrated to the US in 1925. *

Jean Aberbach Joachim "Jean" Aberbach (12 August 1910 – 24 May 1992) was an Austrian-born United States, American Music publisher (popular music), music publisher. He was responsible, with his elder brother Julian Aberbach, Julian, for establishing the Hill a ...

(1910–1992), born in Bad Vöslau. With his brother

Julian Aberbach Julian J. Aberbach (8 February 1909 – 17 May 2004) was an Austrian-born music publisher, who lived and worked in both the United States and France. He was responsible, with his younger brother Jean Aberbach, for establishing the Hill and Range m ...

, he founded the Hill and Range music publishing house, which was instrumental in the careers of

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...

Edith Piaf Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English word , meaning ''wealth'' or ''prosperity'', in combination with the Old English , meaning '' strife'', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian lang ...

and

Jacques Brel Jacques Romain Georges Brel (; 8 April 1929 – 9 October 1978) was a Belgian singer and actor who composed and performed theatrical songs. He generated a large, devoted following—initially in Belgium and France, but later throughout the world ...

. * Hannelore Valencak (1929–2004) was an Austrian writer who lived until her death in Bad Vöslau. * Arnulf Rainer (born 1929), Austrian painter, lived and worked 1953–59 in his family-owned villa in the city. * Wolfgang Gratzer (born 1965 in Bad Vöslau), musicologist and book author. From 2010 to 2014 he was the Vice Rector for development and research of Mozarteum University Salzburg. * Felix Auböck (born 1996 in Bad Vöslau), Austrian 2016 Olympic swimmer and european Champion.

Economy and Traffic

Economy

The main sources of income in Bad Vöslau are tourism and wine-growing. Also, the Vöslauer mineral water from the thermal springs is bottled within the city limits and exported worldwide. On 11 February 2006 the new Bad Vöslau health resort was opened. The area of the now defunct worsted factory has been refurbished by a group of investors and the premises are being let as storage, business, or office space under the name of ''Kammgarnzentrum'' (Worsted Centre). In the northeast of Bad Vöslau there are several shops and businesses.

Traffic

Road

The Bad Vöslauer Straße B212 runs through the centre of the city, connecting Bad Vöslau with Baden (north) and Berndorf (via Gainfarn and Großau, west). At Schlossplatz a branch road leads south to Kottingbrunn,

Leobersdorf Leobersdorf is a town in the Baden (district of Austria), Baden district of Lower Austria, Austria. History Early settlements First indices of settlement in the area date back to 3000 BC. Around 350 BC Celtic settlers found Noricum, from their ...

, and

Wiener Neustadt Wiener Neustadt (; Lower_Austria.html" ;"title=".e. Lower Austria">.e. Lower Austria , ) is a city located south of Vienna, in the state of Lower Austria, in northeast Austria. It is a self-governed city and the seat of the district administr ...

. Just east of the city is the

Süd Autobahn The Süd Autobahn (A2) ('South Motorway') is a Controlled-access highway, motorway (''Autobahns of Austria, Autobahn'') in Austria. Completed in 1999, it runs from the outskirts of Vienna south via the cities of Graz and Klagenfurt to the border ...

. There is a junction leading to Bad Vöslau. The southern parts of town, however, can also easily be reached via the Kottingbrunn junction.

Rail and Public Transport

Bad Vöslau railway station is located in the east of the city, on the line of the ''Südbahn'' (Southern Railway). The station is served by local and regional trains. In front of the station building, public buses depart for various places in town and in the vicinity.

Air

Near the eastern limits of town (and, for the larger part, in the municipality of Kottingbrunn) lies Vöslau Airfield. It is a private airfield, without commercial traffic. It was noted as the place where on 15 April 1955 an Austrian government delegation headed by Federal Chancellor

Julius Raab Julius Raab (29 November 1891 – 8 January 1964) was a conservative Austrian politician who served as Federal Chancellor of Austria from 1953 to 1961. Raab steered Allied-occupied Austria to independence, when he negotiated and signed the Austr ...

landed after returning from successful peace treaty negotiations with

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

leaders in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

Images

Bad Vöslau

File:Schloss voeslau01.jpg, Vöslau castle, now the town hall File:Bad Vöslau - Thermalbad.JPG, Public swimming bath ''(Thermalbad)'' File:Hotel Stefanie, Bad Vöslau.jpg, Hotel Stefanie File:Bad Vöslau, Waldhäuser Ernst Ledere.jpg, Villa "Waldhäuser Ernst Ledere", by architects Fellner & Helmer File:Bad Vöslau - Kirche St. Jakob.JPG, James the Great parish church File:Bad Voeslau Kurpark 02.JPG, Spa gardens File:Harzbergturm.jpg, "Harzbergturm" lookout

Gainfarn

BadVoeslau Gainfarn01.jpg, View of Gainfarn from Harzberg Hauptstr 20 2540 Bad Vöslau.jpg, Main street Gainfarn - Kirche.JPG, John the Baptist parish church Gainfarn - Schloss (a).JPG, Gainfarn palace Aussichtswarte Merkenstein 02.jpg, Merkenstein lookout Bad Vöslau - Burgruine Merkenstein.JPG, Aerial view of Merkenstein ruins Bad Vöslau - Schloss Merkenstein (b).JPG, Merkenstein palace

Großau

File:Großau Kirche.jpg, Catherine of Alexandria church File:Grossau 4638.JPG, "Ortszentrum Grossau" community centre building, housing the fire station, a kindergarten, and a community function room

References

External links

Town website
(in German) *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bad Voeslau Spa towns in Austria Baden District, Austria Cities and towns in Baden District, Austria