Columban Way Stage 4: Koblenz - Baden

Sights & interesting facts

• Döttingen: Various findings prove settlement during the Neolithic period. At the time of the Romans, there were two estates here. Both were destroyed around 260 AD by plundering Alemanni. Döttingen was on the Roman military road Zurzach - Vindonissa. From the end of the reservoir, we walk along the Aare on pleasant natural and gravel paths.

• On the artificial Aare island shortly after Döttingen stands another nuclear power plant - Beznau – which began operation in 1969. It is today the oldest nuclear power plant in the world still in operation.

• At Würenlingen, we pass the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, the largest research institute for natural and engineering sciences in Switzerland.

• We now arrive at the so-called water castle of Switzerland. Here the rivers Aare, Limmat, and Reuss unite to form the Aare, which then flows into the Rhine at Koblenz. The catchment area of these rivers covers about 40% of the Swiss territory.

• Up to Untersiggenthal we followed the Aare, from here the Limmat up to Zurich. This area was already settled during the Neolithic and Bronze Age. The first documented mention dates back to 833. Landowners in the 9th century were the Fridolin foundation in Säckingen, in the 11th century the Einsiedeln monastery, in the 12th century the St. Blasien monastery, from 1245 the Wettingen monastery, and from 1337 the Königsfelden monastery in Windisch. Windisch was owned by the Habsburgs, whose ancestral seat was slightly west of Windisch.

• Stage town Baden: Around 14 AD the Romans built the legion camp Vindonissa near Baden (Aquae Helveticae). Because of the healing effects of the thermal waters, they built thermal baths on the Limmat. The village Baden, adjacent to Vindonissa and probably under military administration, was located at the intersection of important transport routes. The main axis led from Augusta Raurica (Augst) via Vindonissa (Windisch) to Vitudurum (Winterthur) and Brigantium (Bregenz). A road branched off towards Turicum (Zurich) and from there to the Alpine passes. The Romans left the area in the early 5th century but it remained settled. The Confederates conquered the city in 1415. Until 1798, Baden was a subject city but had a prominent position as a spa and the most important meeting place of the federal diets until 1712. In 1714 one of the many peace treaties - the Peace of Baden - was concluded here to end the Spanish War of Succession. As the founding place (1891) of Brown, Boveri & Cie, today ABB, Baden is an internationally important center of the electrical engineering industry.