A piece of Bad Salzuflen's identity
The impressive graduation towers have shaped the townscape of Bad Salzuflen for centuries - long before the state spa was founded.
They were originally part of the Salzuflen salt works: From 1767, the first of these technical masterpieces was built in Bad Salzuflen to make the extraction of the precious salt from our brine more effective and easier. Until then, the brine had been laboriously boiled in pans to extract the white gold, but now the salty water flowed over a construction that evaporated the water and purified the brine, e.g. from lime and iron oxide. The construction is essentially made of wood and blackthorn, which is particularly branched and resilient. The brine concentrated in this way could be boiled down to salt more quickly - this reduced the enormous consumption of wood needed for salt boiling.
The first Salzufl "graduation case" was built by Johann Friedrich Constantin Freiherr von Beust. He was an expert in graduation works and was in demand throughout Germany. Count Simon August zur Lippe commissioned him, gave him a free hand and appointed him the first saltworks director.
Over the following decades, the T-shaped graduation tower ensemble developed and was used for salt extraction until 1945.
Today, the graduation towers are more than just an endearing relic from a bygone era: they form a huge open-air inhalatorium. Every day, around 600,000 liters of brine trickle over the mighty blackthorn walls, atomizing into the finest brine mist and creating a sea-like climate.
This brine mist reaches the respiratory tract with a wealth of vitalizing micro-particles. This stimulates the circulation in the lungs and the transport of oxygen into the blood in a completely natural way.
A stroll along the Bad Salzufl graduation towers is as healthy as a walk by the sea.
The graduation tower ensemble comprises 3 buildings:
- the large graduation tower Parkstraße, which stretches from the main entrance to the spa gardens along the rose garden to the Schliepsteiner Tor and invites you to linger with numerous benches on both sides of the graduation tower
- the graduation house with the striking clock tower, which has a covered walkway, a sun deck and a brine Kneipp pool
- the graduation house, which is accessible from the inside and has quiet niches inside, a brine mist chamber with soft music and a color-changing starry sky and a viewing platform with wonderful views of the town and spa gardens.
Graduation house or salt works?
A saltworks is a facility for the extraction of salt. A graduation house, on the other hand, is part of the process of increasing the salt content of the brine. For this reason, a graduation tower is installed upstream of a saltworks in order to further concentrate the brine before the salt is extracted in the saltworks.
The brine is also used as a local remedy in the Staatsbad Vitalzentrum and in the VitaSol Therme - e.g. in a wide variety of atomizations for the treatment of respiratory diseases or in the exercise pool for active activities in pleasantly warm thermal brine.
At the VitaSol Therme in Bad Salzufl, guests can float in an almost weightless state in the intensive brine pool. Salt infusions in the SaunaPark cleanse and purify the body. Enjoy carefree hours during a visit to the ThermenLandschaft and SaunaPark of the VitaSol Therme.