Wilhelmsbad began its existence as an elegant spa between 1777 and 1785. It attracted both court society and the aspiring bourgeoisie. However, when its founder Wilhelm IX left Hanau in 1785 to take up the reigns of government as Landgrave in Kassel, the spa quickly fell from fashion. Thanks to its subsequent shadowy existence, it has survived almost unchanged as an 18th-century spa resort with baths. The late baroque spa buildings line an avenue, surrounded by a park in the style of an English landscape garden. This is one of the earliest of its kind in Germany, an outstanding specimen of the garden of ”sensibility”, with atmospheric little buildings (castle, pyramid, hermitage etc.) which illustrate how the designers of the day sought to achieve sentimental effect.