In 2005, Prof. Dr. Gottfried Kiesow, the then State Conservator, author of the book "Das verkannte Jahrhundert. Der Historismus am Beispiel Wiesbaden" (2005), suggested that Wiesbaden apply for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List. He justified this with the argument that Wiesbaden was "an outstanding city monument of historicism" and had a large number of outstanding buildings of classicism, "romantic historicism", the Gründerzeit and late historicism.

The city followed his suggestions and set up a "World Cultural Heritage Office" in 2006 to prepare the lengthy application process. In 2008, two expert opinions were obtained from internationally recognized experts in order to further explore Wiesbaden's chances - initially for inclusion in the so-called tentative list - which led to a new justification for the application the following year: from then on, the focus was no longer to be on historicism, but on Wiesbaden's role as a spa town, as one of several "Salons d'Europe" and a so-called stage for the social cure.

The two-track process provided for a serial bid from 16 members under the leadership of the Czech Republic as well as a national bid, which was submitted in 2012 via the state of Hesse. Following a reduction in the number of applicants, Wiesbaden was eliminated from the process in 2016 along with five other candidates.