Bad Dürkheim

Bad Dürkheim’s wine and spa traditions meet around its Kurpark. The Gradierbau stands in the park, where brine runs over two brushwood walls, each approximately 333 metres long. The process recalls salt production: allowing water to evaporate increased the concentration of the brine before it was boiled. The Isenach flows through the landscaped lower park, while the upper section was laid out in 1847.

The Dürkheimer Riesenfass offers a different interpretation of a local industry. This enormous barrel-shaped building has served as a restaurant rather than as a container for wine. Its timber came from around two hundred fir trees from the Black Forest. Nearby, Walter Graser’s Wurstmarkt fountain, created in 1986, uses figures and familiar objects to evoke the town’s wine festival. Brine works, gardens and wine imagery give the centre its distinctive character.