The focus is on its beginnings in Roman times and its reception around 1900, when the so-called "world spa town" experienced its second heyday.

Thanks to its hot springs, Wiesbaden is the only city in the state of Hesse that has been continuously inhabited since ancient times. This makes it the oldest city in Hesse and, together with Aachen, the first spa city in Germany!

The naturally hot water in today's Wiesbaden has probably been used since the Palaeolithic period around 25,000 years ago. Shortly after the arrival of Roman troops on the Rhine, the region experienced its first heyday from 6/15 AD. The hot springs of Wiesbaden were very important for the bathing culture and religious cults of the Romans, so that the city became known nationwide under the name "Aquae Mattiacorum".

Roman bathing facilities were soon built in what is now the city center, which became known as far away as Rome. Ancient writers report on the hot waters in "Aquae Mattiacorum" and that the spring sinter obtained there was traded as far as the capital of the empire. Roman women used it to dye their hair. Roman tombstones and votive stones bear witness to the cultural diversity that prevailed in Roman Wiesbaden at the time.

The "rediscovery of antiquity" around 1900 was a bridge to modern times and showed the importance Wiesbaden attached to its Roman (bathing) tradition, how this was expressed in the public consciousness and ultimately in the cityscape. For example, Wilhelm II was greeted with the words "SALVE IMPERATOR" ("Greetings, Emperor") during his visits to Wiesbaden and the Roman city wall, known as the "Heidenmauer", was repaired in 1902 in a manner typical of the time. Ancient thermal baths were also the model for the Kaiser-Friedrich-Bad, which was built in Art Nouveau style between 1910 and 1913.

On display were objects from the important Nassau Antiquities Collection (SNA), which is owned by the Wiesbaden City Museum Foundation, as well as exceptional loans.