Bad Reichenhall, Upper Bavaria, Bavaria, Germany

🇩🇪 Bad Reichenhall is a spa town, and administrative centre of the Berchtesgadener Land district in Upper Bavaria, Germany. It is located near Salzburg in a basin encircled by the Chiemgau Alps (including Mount Staufen (1,771 m) and Mount Zwiesel (1,781 m)). Together with other alpine towns Bad Reichenhall engages in the Alpine Town of the Year Association for the implementation of the Alpine Convention to achieve sustainable development in the alpine arc. Bad Reichenhall was awarded Alpine Town of the Year in 2001.

Bad Reichenhall is a traditional centre of salt production, obtained by evaporating water saturated with salt from brine ponds.

History • The earliest known inhabitants of this area are the tribes of the Glockenbecher-Culture (a Bronze Age Culture, from about 2000 B.C.) • In the age of the La Tene culture (about 450 B.C.) organised salt production commenced utilising the local brine pools. In the same period a Celtic place of worship is placed at the "Langacker". • From 15 B.C to 480 A.D, the city is part of a Roman province, Noricum. • 1136 A.D bought the founding of a monastery St. Zeno. • In 1617-1619, a wooden pipeline for brine exportation to Traunstein was built, with a length of 31 km, and more than 200 m in altitude difference. • In 1834, two thirds of the city's buildings were destroyed by a major fire. • The early 19th century saw the beginning of tourism, with Reichenhall becoming a famous health resort. • From 1890, Reichenhall is now called "Bad Reichenhall". • On 25 April 1945, the area was bombed by allied forces, 200 people were killed. The town centre with many hospitals and the train station was nearly totally destroyed, the barracks didn't suffer any damage. After World War II the area was under American military governance (1945–1948). • After World War II, the Americans established a Displaced Persons camp in the town, where Holocaust survivors lived for several years before immigrating to other countries. • In 1947, Ben Gurion visited the DP camp, and saw the artworks created by Samuel Bak, one of the Holocaust survivors living at the camp. • On 1 November 1999, 16-year-old Martin Peyerl shot at people in the streets from his bedroom window, killing three and wounding several others, among them actor Günter Lamprecht. He finally committed suicide after fatally shooting his sister and the family cat. • In 2001 Bad Reichenhall was named Alpine Town of the Year and a few years later became a member of Alpine Pearls.