Stadtwiki Baden‑Baden
Park

Paradies Water Feature

The Paradies Water Feature stands on the Annaberg in Baden-Baden. Max Laeuger designed it in the 1920s, and it forms part of the “Paradies” garden and residential complex.

View from the [Wasserkunstanlage Paradies](/en/bauwerke-und-orte/wasserkunstanlage-paradies/) towards the [Stiftskirche](/en/bauwerke-und-orte/stiftskirche/).
View from the Wasserkunstanlage Paradies towards the Stiftskirche.
Water cascade at the [Wasserkunstanlage Paradies](/en/bauwerke-und-orte/wasserkunstanlage-paradies/) with a reflection of the evening sky.
Water cascade at the Wasserkunstanlage Paradies with a reflection of the evening sky.
Fountain bowl at the [Wasserkunstanlage Paradies](/en/bauwerke-und-orte/wasserkunstanlage-paradies/) with a reflection of the autumn-coloured trees.
Fountain bowl at the Wasserkunstanlage Paradies with a reflection of the autumn-coloured trees.
Side view of the water cascade at the [Wasserkunstanlage Paradies](/en/bauwerke-und-orte/wasserkunstanlage-paradies/).
Side view of the water cascade at the Wasserkunstanlage Paradies.
Fountain grotto at the upper end of the [Wasserkunstanlage Paradies](/en/bauwerke-und-orte/wasserkunstanlage-paradies/) with reflections in the water.
Fountain grotto at the upper end of the Wasserkunstanlage Paradies with reflections in the water.

History

After 1900 the city of Baden-Baden opened up a site of roughly one and a half hectares on the Annaberg for development. Max Laeuger took charge of the planning from 1921 onwards. To help sell the villas, he designed a water feature with Neo-Renaissance elements, and it was inaugurated in 1925. After the Second World War the French occupying forces took up quarters on the Annaberg, and the water feature slipped ever further into obscurity — the municipal building department even considered tearing it down. In 1970 the parks department took over its restoration. Working from the original plans, the grounds were to be fully restored in time for the 1981 Landesgartenschau (state garden show), but funding problems left that ambition unmet.

The years after the turn of the millennium brought another round of urgent repairs. For a time the fountain grotto at the head of the water staircase was closed to visitors altogether, because it was in acute danger of collapse. The Freundeskreis Paradies e.V. then raised 20,000 euros in donations and had the grotto restored.[1]

Summer festival on 18 July 2015 at the [Wasserkunstanlage Paradies](/en/bauwerke-und-orte/wasserkunstanlage-paradies/).
Summer festival on 18 July 2015 at the Wasserkunstanlage Paradies.
The [Wasserkunstanlage Paradies](/en/bauwerke-und-orte/wasserkunstanlage-paradies/) with guests of the summer festival on the terrace
The Wasserkunstanlage Paradies with guests of the summer festival on the terrace

Poem

A stone tablet at the centre of the grounds carries Conrad Ferdinand Meyer’s poem “Der römische Brunnen”. It reads:

Aufsteigt der Strahl und fallend gießt

Er voll der Marmorschale Rund,

Die, sich verschleiernd, überfließt

In einer zweiten Schale Grund;

Die zweite gibt, sie wird zu reich,

Der dritten wallend ihre Flut,

Und jede nimmt und gibt zugleich

Und strömt und ruht.

The Paradies in Art

Rita Hampp’s crime novel “Die Leiche im Paradies”, published in 2005, is set at the Paradies Water Feature and in Baden-Baden.

References

  1. ↑ Restoration by the Freundeskreis, on Baden-Baden.tv (no longer available)

Literature

  • Bernd Weigel Parkführer Baden-Baden. Die Gärten und Kuranlagen im Oostal. 2nd edition, Wesel-Kommunikation, Baden-Baden 2003, ISBN 3-00-010770-3.
Automatically translated on 9. July 2026