Welcome to the spa town of Bad Tennstedt

For more than 6000 years this spot of earth has already been inhabited. Celts, Slavs and Germanic tribes as well as Thuringi (Celtic-Germanic tribe - today Thuringians) settled here. Witnesses from this time are finds made during construction work as well as an artificially heaped up elevation in the east of our town - the "Österberg". This is an unopened burial mound of Germanic origin.

Tennstedt was first mentioned in a document under the name Dannistath in 775 in a deed of gift from Charlemagne to the Hersfeld monastery. In 1130 Tennstedt came under the administration of the Thuringian landgraves. It is unknown exactly when Tennstedt received its town charter. In a Lehensrevers (written confirmation of receipt) Tennstedt is mentioned in writing in 1340 as "house and town". Tennstedt is thus the oldest town in the Unstrut-Hainich district.

In the Middle Ages, Tennstedt was one of the 5 large woad towns in Thuringia, along with Langensalza, Gotha, Arnstadt and Erfurt. With the decline of the woad trade, Tennstedt lost its economic importance. The population became impoverished.

This only changed again with the discovery of the sulfur spring ("Stinking Newt") in 1811. The start of bathing operations in 1812 brought modest prosperity back to the population. In 1816, J. W. Goethe stayed in Tennstedt for 6 weeks and enjoyed a sulfur bath or two in his specially built bathhouse.

Tennstedt owes the name "Bad" (spa), which was given to the town in 1925, to the foundation of the sulfur spa. Since 2005, the small rural spa town on the edge of the Wartburg-Hainich World Heritage region has been awarded the title of "town with a spa".