![Knife scabbard fittings made by the Roman bronze-smith Gemellianus were popular souvenirs from Aquae Helveticae, today’s Baden, in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/aquae-helveticae-titel-300x172.jpg)
The baths at Baden – Switzerland’s first “tourist hot(s)pot”
Long before Switzerland became a popular tourist destination, the hot mineral springs at Baden in Aargau were a magnet for people in search of rest and relaxation. The first souvenir of Switzerland: high-profile guests and numerous travel reports carried the spa town’s reputation into the wider world.
A souvenir from Aquae Helveticae
![Knife scabbard fittings made by the Roman bronze-smith Gemellianus were popular souvenirs in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. Shown here are an original fragment and a replica.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/messerhulle-gemellianus-300x194.jpg)
To see and be seen where the powerful meet
Nothing short of the Garden of Eden!
![In 1416, the Florentine humanist Giovanni Francesco Poggio Bracciolini wrote a letter that became an influential advertisement for Baden.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/giovanni-francesco-poggio-bracciolini-228x300.jpg)
![Baden and the baths in the foreground around 1620-1630. Copperplate engraving by Matthäus Merian.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/bader-merian-gbe-79443-lm-50897-300x248.jpg)
![Visitors to the mineral springs arrive in Baden by boat. On the shore, spa guests enjoy games and conversation. Copperplate engraving by Johann Melchior Füssli, 1732.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/badegaste-treffen-per-schiff-in-baden-ein-300x201.jpg)
![The Bäderplatz in Baden with the public baths, the outdoor pool in the background and the St Verenabad in the foreground; this is where the poorer and needy guests spent their spa stay. Aquatint, Heinrich Keller, 1805.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/baderplatz-in-baden-keller-1805-300x203.jpg)