Bad Blumau

Bad Blumau sits in the rolling hills of eastern Styria where the little Safen stream meets the Lafnitz. The land rises gently from the valley floor, covered in meadows and scattered orchards. Neighbouring villages lie a few kilometres away, each with its own small church tower. The place is best known for its warm underground waters that rise near the surface. Around 1,700 people now live in the scattered hamlets that make up the parish. The first people came in the first century AD, leaving behind burial mounds that still mark the fields. After the great movements of peoples, Slavs returned in the fifth and sixth centuries. A castle stood here in the 13th century, called Plumenenau, but it vanished without trace by 1400. The present church of St Sebastian was built in the early 18th century after an earlier building was damaged by a landslide. For centuries the village lived on farming, with small farms and vineyards on the slopes. The turning point came in 1997 when the Rogner Bad Blumau opened, a spa designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser. Its three thermal springs, two of them recognised as healing waters, brought visitors from across Europe. The village was granted the title Bad in 2001 and now runs an electricity plant using the 107 °C water. Old farmsteads have been restored, and a new primary school won a building prize in 2012. The ancient 1,000-year-old oak in Bierbaum, with a trunk over eight metres round, stands as a reminder of the landscape’s long history.