About this place
Set on the Kochbrunnenplatz at the edge of the old town, the Kochbrunnen, meaning the boiling fountain, is the beating heart of Wiesbaden's spa heritage. It is the most prolific of the roughly fifteen hot springs that rise beneath the city, delivering around three hundred and sixty litres of mineral rich water every minute from a source more than two thousand metres deep. The water is a sodium chloride brine, intensely salty and faintly scented with hydrogen sulphide, and it leaves a distinctive reddish sinter crust on the stone around it. First recorded in 1366, the spring was converted into a public drinking fountain in 1823, sparking a boom of grand hotels where European aristocracy came to take the cure. The elegant pavilion that shelters it today dates from the late 1880s, a fitting monument to the water that gave the city its wealth and fame.
Key facts
- 66 °C — The temperature at which the water surfaces, hot enough to earn the name boiling fountain
- 360 litres/min — The flow rate of mineral water rising from over two thousand metres below the square
- 1366 year — First documented mention of the spring under the old name Bryeborn
📍 Kochbrunnenplatz, 65183, Wiesbaden