Central Bathhouse Vienna (opened in 1889 as Central-Bad Wien, Zentralbad Wien i. e. Kaiserbruendl) is one of the most elegant bathing establishments in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

/Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

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History

The Centralbad (today: Kaiserbruendl) for the last hundred years is generally regarded as the oldest and most distinguished bathing-establishment in Vienna. The unusually deep well of the building itself was already in use in Roman times for the small fortification at a bridge (proven through the discovery of coins dating back to the emperors Heliogabalus and Alexander Severus). This building structure, later known as Weihenpurgkh, formed part of a separate fortified small suburb outside Vienna until 1156. In the Middle Ages and until the 1880th this area was the centre for textiles (der alte Ramhof), the first document mentioning a padstubn (“bathing room”) in this house dates back to 1369.

During the late 19th century the Centralbad (then the only bath in the city centre) gained a very great social reputation. Among its regular guests was a.o. the Archduke Ludwig Viktor of Austria

Archduke Ludwig Viktor of Austria

Archduke Ludwig Viktor of Austria from the House of Habsburg was the youngest son born to Archduke Franz Karl of Austria and Princess Sophie of Bavaria...

, a brother of the emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria

Franz Joseph I of Austria

Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I was Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Croatia, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Galicia and Lodomeria and Grand Duke of Cracow from 1848 until his death in 1916.In the December of 1848, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria abdicated the throne as part of...

, who was famous for his love of male beauty. The new name Kaiserbruendl is chosen in remembrance of the visits of three imperial majesties in another Vienna Bathhouse, the Roemisches Bad (Roman Bathhouse) at Praterstern.

Conservational Undertakings and Rebuilding

Between 1887-1889, the house was built by the famous Viennese architects Anton Honus, Anton Lang (the father of Fritz Lang

Fritz Lang

Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang was an Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute...

), Albert Constantin Swoboda and the brothers Edmund and Franz Czada and the interior received in 1894 its present look.

Since the early 1980s the bathhouse is visitable for men only as a Gay bathhouse

Gay bathhouse

Gay bathhouses, also known as gay saunas or steam baths, are commercial bathhouses for men to have sex with other men. In gay slang in some regions these venues are also known colloquially as "the baths" or "the tubs," and should not be confused with public bathing.Not all men who visit gay...

. The entrance leads into a restaurant, from there, you can enter one of the probably worldwide most beautiful and unique sauna’s for men: three floors offer a fitness studio, sauna, bio-sauna, steam bath, massage, fresco-bar and much more.

The visitors of recent years include George Michael

George Michael

George Michael is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who rose to fame in the 1980s when he formed the pop duo Wham! with his school friend, Andrew Ridgeley...

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External links

• History of the Centralbad