The association Stadtbild Baden-Baden e.V. works for the preservation, care and development of Baden-Baden’s townscape. Wolfgang Niedermeyer has chaired it since the general meeting of 19 November 2025, with Federico Peetsch as deputy chair.[1]
Purpose and activities
Under its statutes in the version of 20 June 2012, the association is dedicated to the cultivation and study of local heritage. Its purpose is to preserve Baden-Baden’s historical character, to take part in the development and promotion of the town’s distinctive townscape, and to preserve the landscape of the surrounding region. It campaigns for new building projects to be fitted sensibly into their surroundings and for the town to develop on a human scale. The association wants to achieve this through advice, discussion and information, and above all through expert opinions, formal statements, publications and public relations work.[2]
The regular Stadtbild-Treff
The Stadtbild-Treff is an open meeting for members and guests, held as a rule on the third Wednesday of the month at 6 pm in the Café Kunsthalle at Lichtentaler Allee 8a. It takes up questions of urban development, heritage protection and the townscape. Individual dates may be cancelled or moved elsewhere, for instance to a walk through the town centre.[3] Before that the association met for a regulars’ table at the Gasthaus Goldener Löwe in Lichtental.
Projects
The association’s website lists a number of projects it has been or still is involved in. It names two achievements as its most important: its part in the conservation-area statute in force since 2006, and the creation of the town’s design advisory board.[4]
At the Neues Schloss (New Castle) the association helped found the Freundeskreis Neues Schloss in 2012 and repeatedly demanded in the years that followed that the development plan for the planned hotel and housing scheme be revoked.[5] The town council revoked the plan at the end of November 2023.[6]
Since Baden-Baden joined the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Great Spa Towns of Europe in July 2021, the association has worked on several World Heritage projects. World Heritage walking routes through the town centre took shape in 2024 and 2025, meant to take in examples of newer building as well as historic architecture.[7] In 2024 the association ran a children’s painting competition on the World Heritage theme together with the Stiftungsfonds Kultur-Welterbe of the Bürgerstiftung Baden-Baden and the schools and sport department of the town administration, and more than 40 pictures were entered.[8]
Under the title Brunnen-Patenschaft the association collects donations to repair disused fountains in the town centre. It names the Bürgermeister-Nagel-Brunnen on Schlossstraße, the Bertholdbrunnen on Lichtentaler Straße and the Neptunbrunnen in the Mauergässchen as back in operation, without assigning the restorations to particular years.[9]
Since January 2026 the association has pursued the goal of staging free concerts again in the Konzertmuschel in the Kurgarten, above all with young musicians. By its own account the plan is in a testing and evaluation phase, with staffing costs, GEMA fees and insurance among the open questions.[10]
Organisation and membership
The association was founded on 26 March 2001 and is entered at Mannheim district court under VR 200637.[11] It grew out of the town’s Agenda 21 process, and according to the association its founding members were Ilse Jannsen, Gerd Müller, Gerlinde Vetter and Georg Hofele.[12]
The association has charitable status and charges no membership fees. It funds its work entirely from donations.[2]
In the autumn of 2025 the leadership of the association became a matter of dispute. At a citizens’ meeting in October, members called for the resignation of the then chair, Greta Hessel.[13] Greta Hessel did not stand again at the general meeting on 19 November 2025, and Wolfgang Niedermeyer has led the association since then.[1] The association’s website was unreachable for a time and now runs on a new domain.
Web links
References
- ↑1.1↑1.2 Board, Stadtbild Baden-Baden e.V., accessed 6 August 2026 (Archived)
- ↑2.1↑2.2 Statutes of Stadtbild Baden-Baden e.V. (PDF), Stadtbild Baden-Baden e.V., accessed 6 August 2026 (Archived)
- ↑ StadtbildTreff, Stadtbild Baden-Baden e.V., accessed 6 August 2026 (Archived)
- ↑ Projects & achievements of Stadtbild Baden-Baden e.V., Stadtbild Baden-Baden e.V., accessed 6 August 2026 (Archived)
- ↑ Das Neue Schloss, Stadtbild Baden-Baden e.V., accessed 6 August 2026 (Archived)
- ↑ Baden-Baden hebt Bebauungsplan für Luxushotel im Neuen Schloss auf, Immobilien Zeitung, 29 November 2023, accessed 6 August 2026 (Archived)
- ↑ Welterbe Stadtbild Spaziergang Rundweg, Stadtbild Baden-Baden e.V., accessed 6 August 2026 (Archived)
- ↑ Welterbe-Kindermalwettbewerb 2024, Stadtbild Baden-Baden e.V., accessed 6 August 2026 (Archived)
- ↑ Brunnen-Patenschaft, Stadtbild Baden-Baden e.V., accessed 6 August 2026 (Archived)
- ↑ Konzertmuschel am Kurhaus, Stadtbild Baden-Baden e.V., accessed 6 August 2026 (Archived)
- ↑ Legal notice, Stadtbild Baden-Baden e.V., accessed 6 August 2026 (Archived)
- ↑ About Stadtbild Baden-Baden e.V., Stadtbild Baden-Baden e.V., accessed 6 August 2026 (Archived)
- ↑ Harald Holzmann: Baden-Badener Verein Stadtbild: Aufstand gegen die Vorsitzende, Badische Neueste Nachrichten, 16 October 2025, accessed 6 August 2026 (Archived)