Here, bathing is celebrated as a cultural tradition: visitors enter the water unclothed—and, incidentally, in the historic swimming hall, the water is relatively cool at 22 degrees. After all, the water here is primarily meant for cooling off, since there are plenty of other ways to work up a sweat elsewhere in the thermal baths. The Irish-Roman Bath offers arguably the most magnificent setting for this: a sauna area with a tepidarium, sudatorium, and sanarium—Latin names that reveal the tradition in which the thermal baths are rooted. It was built between 1910 and 1913 on the site where the foundations of a Roman sweat bath had once been discovered. 

The construction of the Kaiser-Friedrich-Therme was also prompted by a personal criticism from the emperor himself. Wilhelm II, a regular spa guest in the city, had previously complained that while Wiesbaden had “the most beautiful spa house in the world,” it lacked a representative public bathhouse. Accordingly, architect August O. Pauly designed an Art Nouveau building that skillfully incorporated Roman traditions. 

To this day, the thermal baths are fed by water from the Adlerquelle, the rights to which the city acquired shortly before 1900—a major advantage for Wiesbaden’s spa guests then as now: Here, anyone can enjoy the benefits of the thermal water, even if they are not staying at a spa hotel with its own bath. Anyone visiting the thermal baths today should take their time—for massages and treatments, the Russian steam bath, the Finnish sauna, and the whirlpool. And for a wellness experience in a unique historic setting.