An Important 19th Century German Spa Town -- Host to Czars and other Nobility

Rare separately published map of the spa town of Bad-Ems, 5 miles west of Koblentz.

The map consists of elegant green spaces, bath houses and the main road along the north side of the River.

The map is surrounded by vignettes of important local places,

Includes a key below the map, locating over 170 places.

Bad Ems

In Roman times, a castrum was built at Bad Ems as part of the Upper Germanic Limes. In the woods around the town, however, there are distinct traces of the former Roman border.

The town was first mentioned in official documents in 880 and received its town charter in 1324. The Counts of Nassau and Katzenelnbogen rebuilt the bath and used it together with other noble visitors.

In the 17th and 18th centuries Bad Ems was considered one of Germany's most famous bathing resorts. It reached its heyday in the 19th century when it welcomed visitors from all over the world and became the summer residence of various European monarchs and artists, including Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany, Tsars Nicholas I and Alexander II of Russia, Richard Wagner, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Vasili Vasilyevich Vereshchagin, etc.

In 1870, the town, then part of Prussian Hesse-Nassau, became known as the place where the Ems Dispatch originated, instigating the Franco-Prussian War.

In 1876, in the Haus Vier Türme (Four Tower House), the Ems Edict was signed by Alexander II of Russia, banning the use of the Ukrainian language.

Rarity

OCLC locates a single example, at the Sachsische Landesbibliothek.