![The baths at Baden in about 1600. Reconstruction after M. Merian.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/baden-titel-300x225.jpg)
The “Kesselbad” and “Hell”…
In the Middle Ages and the early modern period, the thermal baths at Baden im Aargau played host to scores of distinguished visitors. These esteemed guests had access to exclusive baths and bathing areas with special amenities, and some of these areas are still preserved today.
![Bagni di Petriolo (Tuscany, Italy). The bathhouse dates from the 12th century.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/bad-italien-300x225.jpg)
![Book of Heinrich Pantaleon in which he describes the functioning of the “Kesselbad” in the Gasthof Staadhof.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/text-bad-220x300.jpg)
![The “Kesselbad” of the Gasthof Hinterhof, built in the 12th or 13th century, was excavated in 2009-2010.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/kesselbad-300x264.jpg)
![Portrait of Conrad Gessner, c. 1850.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/conrad-gessner-300x286.jpg)
![The bathing room at the Paradiesquelle, the Paradise Spring in the Ochsen.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/bad-innen-beleuchtet-300x214.jpg)
![A bathing cellar from Bad Ems (Germany) similar to the bathing cellar in the “Ochsen” is depicted in Wilhelm Dilich’s “Hessische Chronika”, the Hessian Chronicle, published in Kassel in 1607.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/bad-druckgrafik-224x300.jpg)