Baden, the principal Austrian spa with sulfurous water, lies 30km/18mi south of Vienna on the eastern edge of the Wienerwald (Vienna Woods), where the River Schwechat emerges from the Helenental. The water of Baden was already being used for curative purposes in Roman times, when the town was known as Aquae. However the spa owes its rise in
modern times to the regular summer visits by the members of the Habsburg Court between 1803-34, which made Baden the rendezvous of Viennese society and of prominent people. The sulfur springs, at a temperature of about 36 deg C/97 deg F, have a daily flow of 6.5million liters /1.4million gallons.