DEUTSCHLAND	GERMANY
Bundesland: Freistaat Bayern	Bavaria
Regierungsbezirk: Oberbayern
Landkreis: Miesbach

map →

Bad Wiessee is situated at an elevation of 740 m on the western shore of the Tegernsee lake, about 12 km southwest of the district town Miesbach, and about 48 km southeast of Munich. The municipality has a population of about 5,000 (2021).

The first indications of a settlement on the western shore of Lake Tegernsee date back to the 10th century. The name Wesses was first mentioned in 1017 a document of the monastery of Tegernsee; the name literally refers to a settlement west of the lake. According to a legend, a monk of St. Quirin at the eastern shore in 1441 discovered a yellow-gold streak on the surface of the water originating from the western shore of the lake, where a well of natural oil (petroleum) was found. The source must have existed for ages, but has long since dried out; its location still today is marked by a chapel. The source was tapped for the first time in 1430 and the shale oil soon became very popular as 'St. Quirin oil' and attracted pilgrims to the lake. Wiessee was first mentoned as a market town in 1480. After the monastery was dissolved, the Tegernsee valley no longer played a major role. This changed when King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria bought the former monastery in 1817 and had it expanded into his summer palace. He had the region developed and from 1820 the first road was built around the lake, which connected Wiessee to Tegernsee in the south for the first time. Stimulated by the already widespread technical use of petroleum from the end of the 19th century, rich petoleum deposits were found at a depth of about 500 metres in 1904. By 1912, oil production had dropped so much that production was stopped. However, in 1909, a productive thermal water deposit was discovered. Later chemical investigations showed that it was the strongest iodine-sulfur-thermal spring in Germany. The first thermal baths were administered in 1910 and the first bathhouse opened in 1912. In 1922, Wiessee was awarde the title Bad ('spa').

[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Wiessee]