Baden im Aargau

Baden lies on the Limmat, where hot mineral springs have drawn bathers since Roman times. Known then as Aquae Helveticae, the settlement served the legionary camp at Vindonissa and possessed baths, workshops and substantial houses. The medieval town grew beneath Stein Castle; the counts of Kyburg founded it around 1230 and built a bridge across the river. It later passed to the Habsburgs, whose officials kept their regional records at the castle.

In 1415 the Swiss Confederates conquered Aargau and destroyed Stein Castle. From 1426 to about 1712 the Swiss Diet met repeatedly at Baden, giving the spa town a prominent place in the affairs of the Confederacy. A disputation held here in 1526 brought Catholic and Reformation theologians into debate. Baden also lent its name to a treaty of 1714, which ended hostilities between France and the Habsburgs in the War of the Spanish Succession.