Bad Kissingen

Bad Kissingen is a spa town in the Bavarian region of Lower Franconia and is the seat of the Bad Kissingen District. Situated to the south of the Rhön Mountains on the Franconian Saale river, it is a world-famous health resort.

Town structure
In addition to the main town of Bad Kissingen, its districts include according to the latest statistics dating from 31 December 2009:


 * Bad Kissingen town centre (10,991)
 * Albertshausen (635)
 * Arnshausen (1,235)
 * Garitz (4,550)
 * Hausen (1,722)
 * Kleinbrach (395)
 * Poppenroth (883)
 * Reiterswiesen (2,113)
 * Winkels (1,397)

(Number of inhabitants in brackets)

Town Council
The Council of Bad Kissingen (2008–2014) consists of:
 * The mayor Kay Blankenburg (SPD)
 * 11 members of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU),
 * 9 members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD),
 * 4 members of the DBK,
 * 3 members of the Freie Wähler party,
 * 2 members of the BfU/Alliance '90/The Greens
 * 1 member of the Free Democrats (FDP).
 * In addition there is one representative for Albertshausen, one for Kleinbrach and one for Arnshausen who have no right to vote in the council.

Twin towns

 * 🇦🇹 Eisenstadt (Austria), around 700 km away
 * 🇮🇹 Massa (Italy), around 900 km away
 * 🇫🇷 Vernon (France), around 800 km away

Museums

 * Bismarck museum in the upper saltworks
 * Permanent exhibition: Jewish life in the former Jewish school
 * Cardinal Döpfner museum in Hausen

Music
The classical music festival 'Kissinger Sommer' with participation by internationally recognised orchestras and soloists is a highlight of the cultural calendar. A similar event called the ‘Kissinger Winterzauber’ takes place each winter. Other annual events include the ‘Rakoczy Fest’ in the last weekend of July, which is held to honour all historical figures whose lives were connected with Bad Kissingen. The high point is the procession on the Sunday afternoon. Historical figures are represented by citizens of the town for the entire weekend, and take part in town life.

Architecture
One of the most important buildings in the town is the old town hall, a renaissance design from 1577. Between 1838 and 1913, the arcade was built around the spa garden by Friedrich von Gärtner, as well as the pump rooms, following a design by Max Littmann. The Regency building was constructed by Balthasar Neumann. Max Littmann also designed the Art Nouveau spa theatre, completed in 1905. The oft-forgotten train station building, with its classical neo-renaissance façade, was built in 1874 under supervision by Friedrich Bürklein. The ruins of castle Bodenlaube from 1180 looks over the town from above Reiterswiesen. The KissSalis Therme, opened in 2004, gives the town a modern feel. It is one of the largest wellness baths in Europe, and the largest building project in the town since the Second World War.

Another point of interest is the casino in the spa park.

Other architectural sites in Bad Kissingen include:


 * Bismarck Monument (Bad Kissingen)
 * Bismarck Tower (Bad Kissingen)
 * Ludwig Tower (Bad Kissingen)
 * Wittelsbacher Tower (Bad Kissingen)

Sport
Bad Kissingen boasts a large number of sports clubs and types of sports:


 * Football
 * 1. FC 06 Bad Kissingen
 * TSV Reiterswiesen
 * TV “Vater Jahn” Bad Kissingen-Winkels
 * Post SV Bad Kissingen
 * TSV gg Kissingen-Hausen
 * SV Bad Kissingen-Garitz
 * SV Bad Kissingen-Arnshausen
 * FC Viktoria Bad Kissingen-Poppenroth
 * Tennis
 * TC Rot Weiss Bad Kissingen
 * TSV Bad Kissingen
 * Golf
 * Fencing
 * Basketball
 * Swimming
 * Ice hockey
 * Flying
 * Judo
 * Chess
 * Shooting
 * Shooting club “Edelweiss” Reitersweisen (Bavarian league air pistol 2005/2006)

World Cup 2006
During the World Cup 2006, Bad Kissingen was home to the Ecuadorian national football team (the Croatian team was in Bad Brückenau). In honour of this unique event, a street was renamed from Grabengasse to Avenida Amazonas. Sport facilities and infrastructure were also upgraded to ensure optimal training conditions for the team.

Regular events

 * Kissinger Sommer (international music festival June/July)
 * Kissinger Winterzauber (international music festival December/January)
 * Bad Kissingen Theatre Days (August)
 * Rákóczi Festival; official German term: "Rákóczi-Fest" (last weekend of July)
 * Kissinger Piano Olympics (September)

Schools

 * "Anton Kliegel Mittelschule" elementary school
 * State secondary school, Bad Kissingen
 * "Jack-Steinberger-Gymnasium" grammar school, the name refers to Jack Steinberger (a German-American physicist and Nobel Prize Winner)
 * Berufschule Bad Kissingen, vocational school
 * Franz-von-Prümmer-Schule, special school

History
The town itself was first documented in the year 801 as “chizzicha” and was renowned above all for its medicinal springs, which are recorded from as early as 823. Kissingen was first mentioned as a town in 1279, and the first official spa guest was recorded in 1520, the same century that the town established itself as a spa. Kissingen grew to be a chic resort in the 19th century, and was rebuilt as such during the reign of Ludwig I of Bavaria. Crowned heads of state such as Empress Elisabeth of Austria, Tsar Alexander II of Russia and King Ludwig II of Bavaria, who bestowed the 'Bad' on Kissingen in 1883, were among the guests to the spa at this time.

On 10 July 1866 in Mainfeldzug, Kissingen was the site of fierce battle between Bavarian and Prussian troops.

Imperial Chancellor Otto von Bismarck visited Kissingen's spas many times, and in 1874 narrowly avoided assassination by Eduard Franz Ludwig Kullmann there. Bismarck’s former home in Kissingen is now the Bismarck Museum. Other well-known visitors to the resort included author Leo Tolstoy and artist Adolph von Menzel.

The resort’s clientele changed in the 20th century, with more ordinary citizens visiting than noblemen and women. 1945 is the only year that the spa resort remained closed. After that, the Department of Social Security built clinics in the town, but a change in health legislation in the 1990s reduced the opportunities for German health insurance contracts to fund spa visits, which led to job losses. As a result, efforts were made to attract a new kind of clientele, helped in no small part by the EMNID survey which named Bad Kissingen Germany’s most well-known spa town. In 2003, 1.5 million people stayed in the town. With the opening of the KissSalis Therme in February 2004, Bad Kissingen now also had a spa leisure centre, and in December 2004, the German-Chinese Football Academy was opened in the town, where the Chinese "08 Star Team" lived and trained in preparation for the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008.

At the eastern edge of the Bad Kissingen town center Manteuffel Kaserne (Manteuffel Barracks) was established by the German military as part of Hitler's program to expand the German "Wehrmacht" (Army) prior to World War II. In 1945, the American military entered the town peacefully, and took over the barracks which were renamed Daley Barracks in 1953.

Famous inhabitants of Bad Kissingen

 * Jeff Baker (born 29 June 1981), MLB Infielder on the Texas Rangers
 * Claus-Frenz Claussen (born 28 May 1939), otolaryngologist
 * Julius Döpfner (1913–1976), cardinal and archbishop
 * Cyrill Kistler (1848–1907), composer, music educator and music publisher
 * Anton Kliegl (1872–1927), inventor of the Klieg light
 * Oskar Panizza (1853–1921), physician and writer
 * Hanna Ralph (1888–1978), stage and film actress
 * Jack Steinberger (born 25 May 1921), Nobel prize in physics


 * Henry Kissinger's great great grandfather, Meyer Löb, derived his name from Bad Kissingen in 1817.