Augustaplatz

Baden-Baden’s Augustaplatz (once also the Heumarkt, the hay market) is known for its underground car park and its artificial lake with a water jet. In the Middle Ages it belonged to the suburb given over to trades and crafts. The nineteenth century filled it with villas and stately buildings, and the twentieth gave it the shape it has today, with water features and the artificial lake. Many details of that arrangement have grown so dear to the people of Baden-Baden that a competition to redesign the square, held in 2013, met with wide public resistance and even led to the founding of a citizens’ initiative. The square is named after Empress Augusta, one of Baden-Baden’s most loyal visitors in the nineteenth century, whose regular presence brought the town a great deal of attention and drew many more illustrious guests.

The square and its surroundings

The Augustaplatz runs from the fork of Kreuzstraße and Lichtentaler Straße in the north down to the Evangelische Stadtkirche and the Kongresshaus in the south. The Lichtentaler Straße bounds it to the east. Merkurstraße, Eichstraße and Seilerstraße branch off the Lichtentaler Straße at the level of the square and climb the Annaberg. To the west the square ends at the Oos. Several footbridges link it to the park of the Lichtentaler Allee.

An artificial lake covers much of the square, and its tall, distinctive jet is a favourite photographic subject. The lake was laid out in 1977 to plans by the Karlsruhe director of horticulture Robert Mürb.^[1] The lake, the long basins in front of the Palais Gagarin and the planting were all meant to screen the square from the Lichtentaler Straße, which in the 1970s still carried far more traffic. Black concrete bollards stand in the lake and along its edge and make good seats. The Augusta underground car park lies beneath the lake, its vehicle entrance at the southern end of the square. Pedestrians have two ways in, the kiosk by the bus stop and the access point at the Palais Gagarin. The square is paved with cobblestones, and a playground sits at its northern end.

Shops

Numerous retail shops surround the Augustaplatz. The convenient parking in the Augusta underground car park is ideal.

More shops line the Lichtentaler Straße and Kreuzstraße.

Notable buildings

The former Restaurant Stahlbad building stands at the northern end of the square by the Buberlbrunnen and houses the restaurant Le Jardin de France today. Built in 1861/62 in neo-Renaissance style, it held the well-known Café Rumpelmayer from 1887 to 1975. Across the Lichtentaler Straße, the stately Goldenes Kreuz catches the eye. A smaller inn, the Gasthaus zum Goldenen Kreuz, originally stood on the spot. The present building with its imposing Gründerzeit façade went up in 1891/92 to plans by the hotel architect Wilhelm Vitali.^[2] The Palais Gagarin sits in the middle of the Augustaplatz and houses the restaurant Rizzi and Baden-Baden’s register office. It is the last remnant of a larger estate that once belonged to Isabella Gagarina, widow of Prince Serge Gagarin.^[3] The Evangelische Stadtkirche stands on the south side of the square with its two neo-Gothic towers. The Kongresshaus is its immediate neighbour, its façade by now thoroughly modern. Beside it, the building at Augustaplatz 8 is the former Haus des Kurgasts, which now belongs to the media entrepreneur Karlheinz Kögel. It is the former side wing of the luxury Hotel Stéphanie-les-Bains.^[4]

Small-scale architecture

The square carries all kinds of small-scale architecture. The Buberlbrunnen by the sculptor August Kraus, dating from 1910, stands next to the Palais Gagarin. The naked statue of a boy caused quite a stir when it was first put up. A few steps further towards the Lichtentaler Straße, the Farbzeituhr by the artist Tian Harlan sits on a stele. Its cut-out shows the time: on every full hour the opening is filled with exactly one colour. Between the Palais Gagarin and the Kongresshaus, the De Coubertin Denkmal recalls the man who revived the Olympic Games and the Furtwängler Denkmal the composer. A large compass rose is set into the ground in the same area.

The underground car park

The Augustaplatz was once a large car park. The parking has since moved below ground. The three-storey garage under the artificial lake goes by Augustatiefgarage or Kongresshaustiefgarage, and the Stadtwerke Baden-Baden list it as the Kongresshausgarage with 394 spaces. It is open around the clock, every day of the week. Tariffs are graded by time of day and length of stay: alongside the hourly rate there is a cheaper morning rate on weekdays, a flat night rate, and daily and multi-day rates for longer stays.^[5]

Traffic and mobility

Traffic on the Lichtentaler Straße has dropped markedly since the Michaelstunnel opened in 1989 and the Leopoldsplatz was calmed.

The Augustaplatz plays a particular part in local public transport as a bus hub. A great many bus routes meet here, and the two-lane stop takes up a fair amount of space accordingly.

From May 2015 to 2019 the Call a Bike hire scheme ran a station between the kiosk and the entrance to the car park. Since May 2019 the Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund has operated the hire system as KVV.nextbike.^[6] At the Augustaplatz, bicycles and pedelecs wait next to the transport company’s customer centre.^[7]

The immediate surroundings

The museums of Baden-Baden’s Museumsmeile lie on the Lichtentaler Allee at the level of the Augustaplatz, so museum visitors often park in the Augusta garage. Just above the square on the Annaberg stands the Markgraf-Ludwig-Gymnasium, one of Baden-Baden’s major schools. Most of its pupils use the Augustaplatz bus stop.

History

The area of today’s Augustaplatz, still the “Heumarkt” into the nineteenth century, originally lay outside the town wall. The nearest gate was the Beuerner Tor at the Leopoldsplatz. Until the start of the nineteenth century the Gewerbekanal, the trades canal, crossed the square. It served among other things to bring firewood here. The Schweigert mill stood where the Palais Gagarin stands today. Tanneries settled here along with several other trades, as the street names “Seilergasse” and “Schmiedstraße” still show.

As Baden-Baden rose to become a respected spa town, the use of the area changed with it. The Schweigert mill became an inn, the Gewerbekanal was soon filled in, and larger estates went up, among them the Palais Gagarin and the Palais Stourdza, which no longer exists.

In the late nineteenth century the name “Augustaplatz” applied to a small square at the northern end of today’s area, running from the fork of Kreuzstraße and Lichtentaler Straße to the former Palais Gagarin. Around 1953 several buildings between the Lichtentaler Straße and the Oos were pulled down, among them the Palais Stourdza and the main part of the Hotel Stephanie. From then on the whole area between Kreuzstraße, Lichtentaler Straße and Ludwig-Wilhelm-Platz took the name Augustaplatz. The Augustaplatz garage was built from 1967 to 1968 alongside the Kongresshaus, and a second section followed in 1977. Building over the garage with green space and an artificial lake with a fountain gave the square the look it has today.

The planned redesign

In 2013 the town held a competition to redesign the Augustaplatz. When the results were published, criticism arose of the plans and of the lack of public involvement. In response the Initiative Bürgerbeteiligung Augustaplatz formed, intending to draw up a counter-proposal.

The winning design was never carried out. The Augustaplatz belongs to the Südliche Neustadt regeneration area and was to be upgraded as part of it, but the redesign was put off year after year. By July 2025 the town’s finances made the full solution unaffordable, and the administration was planning an interim one instead.^[8]

Events

A weekly market takes over the Augustaplatz every Monday and Thursday from 7 am to 1 pm.

In the winter months from November to January the Eisarena Baden-Baden is built over the lake. The ice measures 525 square metres and is roofed and closed at the sides, which lowers the energy the cooling needs. Besides skating, groups can play Eisstockschießen, Bavarian curling. The complex includes the “Kitzbüheler Hütte”, which came back for the 2024/2025 season after several years away^[9] and is catered in cooperation with Bernd Werner of Schloss Eberstein. Fondue and other Alpine dishes are on the menu.^[10]

Getting there

Coming from the motorway or the Weststadt, drive into the Michaelstunnel and take the first exit inside the tunnel. Turn left at the next set of lights and follow the Lichtentaler Straße to the Augustaplatz. The entrance to the underground car park is at the start of the square, opposite the Evangelische Stadtkirche. The Kongresshaus, which sits right on the Augustaplatz, is generally well signposted.

See also

• Kaiserin Augusta Denkmal
• Kaiserin-Augusta-Bad

Sources

• Landesdenkmalamt Baden-Württemberg Ortskern Atlas Baden-Württemberg Stadt Baden-Baden (1993) ISBN 3-89021-564-5, p. 106
• Bäuerle and others Stadtführer Baden-Baden - Altstadt - Villen - Allee Arbeitskreis für Stadtgeschichte Baden-Baden e.V. 1994, ISSN-NR. 0936-742X pp. 141 ff.
• Helmuth Bischoff Baden-Baden: Die romantische Bäderstadt im Tal der Oos. Kurbetrieb zwischen Casino, Park und Kloster. DuMont, Cologne 1996, ISBN 3-7701-3086-3 pp. 126 ff.
• Ulrich Coenen Von Aquae bis Baden-Baden - die Baugeschichte der Stadt und ihr Beitrag zur Entwicklung der Kurarchitektur Aachen, Mainz 2008, ISBN 3-8107-0023-1 pp. 592 f.

References

1. ↑ Coenen, see above, p. 593
2. ↑ Bäuerle et al., see above, pp. 141 f.
3. ↑ Bäuerle et al., see above, p. 147
4. ↑ Bäuerle et al., see above, pp. 150 f.
5. ↑ Parkhaus Kongresshausgarage in Baden-Baden, Stadtwerke Baden-Baden, retrieved 26 July 2026 (Archived)
6. ↑ Smartes Bikesharing per App - KVV.nextbike in Baden-Baden, Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund, valid from May 2019, retrieved 26 July 2026 (Archived)
7. ↑ KVV.nextbike - Bikesharing in Baden-Baden, Stadtwerke Baden-Baden, retrieved 26 July 2026 (Archived)
8. ↑ Trotz Finanzdesaster: Was sich am Augustaplatz in Baden-Baden tut, Badische Neueste Nachrichten, 21 July 2025, retrieved 26 July 2026 (Archived)
9. ↑ Kitzbüheler Hütte kommt bald für Eisarena zurück an Augustaplatz in Baden-Baden, Badische Neueste Nachrichten, 4 November 2024, retrieved 26 July 2026 (Archived)
10. ↑ Eisarena Baden-Baden, retrieved 26 July 2026 (Archived)