![The square in the “Grosse Bäder” of Baden im Aargau, ca. 1780. On the left is the public outdoor pool; on the right, the legendary St Verenabad.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/der-platz-in-den-grossen-badern-von-baden-im-aargau-um-1780-300x225.jpg)
Bathing in the open air
Up to the mid-19th century, the mineral hot baths in Baden im Aargau were known for their open-air thermal pools.
![The Bagni San Filippo in Tuscany. The water bubbles up from the springs over calcium carbonate terraces, and the thermal pools are freely accessible – the pools in Baden could have looked something like this before the Romans built their thermal bathing complex.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/die-bagni-san-filippo-in-der-toskana-300x225.jpg)
Public welfare and politics under the Romans
![Ruins of the Roman thermal baths complex during excavations by Kantonsarchäologie Aargau, the archaeological authority for the Canton of Aargau, in 2011. On the right is the outdoor pool of the thermal baths, designed by Otto Glaus.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/ruinen-der-romischen-thermenanlagen-wahrend-der-ausgrabungen-der-kantonsarchaologie-aargau-2011-300x200.jpg)
In the Middle Ages: baths for everyone – but separated according to status
St Verenabad and open-air pools
![The St Verenabad ca. 1820. Watercolour by Walter Meier based on a drawing by Ludwig Vogel.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/das-st-verenabad-um-1820-300x193.jpg)
![One of the two baths on the Bäderplatz in Baden, in Johannes Stumpf’s chronicle of 1548.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/q-02-8213-die-offentlichen-bader-in-baden-aelteste-darstellung-ausschnitt-aus-dem-blatt-173-der-chronik-stumpf-1548-281x300.jpg)
End of the road for the outdoor baths
![Until 1890, the poor baths on the Limmat Promenade, built in 1838, offered poor and needy bathers treatment in line with the standards of the day.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/das-1838-erbaute-armenbad-an-der-limmatpromenade-300x231.jpg)
The tradition is revived
![In the Heisse Brunnen in Ennetbaden, young and old gather to enjoy the mineral waters in the open air.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/im-heissen-brunnen-in-ennetbaden-treffen-sich-jung-und-alt-zum-baden-unter-freiem-himmel-242x300.jpg)