Bad Karlshafen

Bad Karlshafen on the Weser river (originally called "Carlshaven"), Hesse's northernmost town, was created from scratch  in 1699 with two specific purposes in mind.    The town's location, where the Diemel River flows into the Weser River, was chosen as the intended start of an ambitious canal project thought up by the ruler of Hessen and Kassel, the Landgrave Carl,  to connect the city of Kassel, the seat of his royal residence, with the Weser river.  The Landgrave could thereby avoid the tolls levied by the Hanseatic town of Hannoversch. Münden father down river. The beautifully planned baroque town was designed as an inland port or harbor, by the Kassel royal architect Paul du Ry.  At the same time, the new town would provide a new community for protestant refugees from France to settle in - the Huguenots and Waldensians. The canal project fell through, but the harbor basin, town hall, and townscape with its uniform baroque ambiance remain to this day.  


The discovery in 1730 of a salt-water spring was to become the foundation stone for the town's present day popularity as a health resort.  The town received the right to append the official denomination for a spa town in Germany: Bad (literally: bath, i.e. "spa") in 1977.

 The German Huguenot Museum (Deutsches Hugenotten Museum) housed in a former cigar factory opposite the town hall, has a permanent exhibition dedicated to the trials and tribulations of the Huguenots, persecuted for their religion in France, and the story of how they settled in Hesse (Hessen).