Karlsburg Castle

The Karlsburg, also known as the Four-Towers House, is a city palace in Bad Ems. The original construction was started in 1696 by Johann Karl von Thüngen, who had fought as an imperial field marshal during the Second Siege of Vienna. The palace was intended to serve as accommodation for his spa stays in Bad Ems. The architect was the Kurtrier court master builder Johann Christoph Sebastiani. During the French Revolutionary Wars, the house was severely devastated and became uninhabitable. In 1804, the ruinous house came into the possession of Goedecke, the Orange-Nassau rent master and spa administrator, and in 1817 it was purchased by the spa doctor Thilenius. In the subsequent period, the building was extensively renovated and converted into a luxury hotel. Finally, the palace came into the possession of the ducal-Nassau domain administration, which leased it to the hotelier Heinrich Becker. From this time on, the house hosted numerous European princes and artists, such as Tsar Alexander II of Russia, his wife, Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia, and Carl Maria von Weber. In 1845, a new bathhouse was added to the west, which today houses a theater and a restaurant. In 1956, a comprehensive renovation and a complete interior conversion took place. The demolition of the house planned at that time was prevented by the state monument preservation.

Today, the building houses an external office of the State Enterprise for Data and Information Rhineland-Palatinate.

The bathhouse was added to the hotel in 1845. It was supplied with thermal water. In a multitude of bath cabins, spa guests could take a bath for one hour each. In 1968, the bathing operation was discontinued and the bathhouse was used as a storage shed by the spa gardeners. In 2008, the bathhouse was renovated and a theater for the Cabaret Casablanca was installed.