Where Kaiser Wilhelm I., the Russian tsar and Goethe relaxed

By Dr. Sarholz, Kur- und Stadtmuseum, Alten Rathaus, Bad Ems.

The spa hotel has been a place of health for seven hundred years. Spa buildings were on this site as early as the 14 th century and it is the source of the Emser Kränchen (Ems Spring) and other springs where counts, knights, and archbishops enjoyed the magnificent baths.

It was in the baroque era, when Bad Ems already ranked among the most famous spas in Germany, that the spa hotel took on its present form. The Counts of Hessen built their lodging house partly on the mediaeval foundation walls above the western part of the pump room. This house was in turn replaced in 1912 by the present building, which was also erected on the old foundation walls.

By contrast, the Royal Nassau-Orange Bath House has been preserved in its original form. This palatial baroque building rises above the east part of the pump room, and on the second floor is the characteristic Kaiser's Hall with its remarkable moulded ceiling dating probably from 1720. Guests of the hotel included baroque princes and princesses, Goethe (in 1774), in the 19th century the Russian court (several times), and of course Kaiser Wilhelm I, who came almost every year from 1867 to 1887, staying on the first floor in the Imperial Wing.