Bad Pyrmont

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bad Pyrmont is a city in the district of Hamelin-Pyrmont, in Lower Saxony, Germany, with a population of 22,000 (2003). It is located on the River Emmer, about 10 km west of the Weser, and a popular spa resort that gained its reputation as a fashionable place for princely vacations in the 17th and 18th centuries. Its large park is among the most spectacular in Germany, with a renowned outdoor palm garden. The baroque castle (1706-1710), part of an impressive complex of fortifications from the 16th century, today houses the museum. Unique in Europe is the vapor cave, where therapeutic carbon dioxide vapors emerge from the earth. The town is also the center of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Germany.

[edit] History

Formerly called Pyrmont, it was seat of a small county during much of the Middle Ages. In 1625 the county became part of the much larger county of Waldeck through inheritance. In January 1712 the count of Waldeck and Pyrmont was elevated to hereditary prince by Emperor Charles VI. For a brief period, from 1805 to 1812, Pyrmont was again a separate principality as a result of inheritance and partition after the death of the previous prince, but the two parts were united again in 1812. The principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont retained is status after the Congress of Vienna of 1815 and became a member of the German Confederation. From 1868 onward, it was administered by Prussia, but retained its nominal sovereignty. In 1871 it became a constituent state of the new German Empire. At the end of World War I, the prince abdicated and Waldeck-Pyrmont became a free state within the Weimar Republic. On 30 November 1921, following a local plebiscite, the city and district of Pyrmont were detached and incorporated into the Prussian province of Hanover.

[edit] External links

• http://www.bad-pyrmont.de/
• Museum in the Castle (German)
• Staatsbad Bad Pyrmont (German)
• Principality of Waldeck (German)
• Waldeck Free State (German)
• Hufelandtherme (German)
• Humboldt Gymnasium (German)

Coordinates: 51°59′N, 9°15′E