Bad Ems

The town is located on both banks of the River Lahn, the natural border between the Taunus and the Westerwald, two parts of the Rhenish Slate Mountains. The town and its outer districts are situated within the Nassau Nature Reserve.

File:Ems Ukaz plaque in Bad Ems.JPG in Bad Ems.]]

In Roman times, a castrum was built at Bad Ems as part of the Upper Germanic Limes, but today not much of the structure remains. 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.{{Cite web|url=http://www.graf-von-katzenelnbogen.de/|title=Katzenelnbogener Weltrekorde: Erster RIESLING und erste BRATWURST!|website=www.graf-von-katzenelnbogen.de}} 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. Today, a monument at the spot commemorates this historical event.

File:Bad-ems-rhein-1900.jpg

In the 19th and 20th centuries a lot of mining for metal ores took place in the town, concentrated on lead, silver, zinc and copper. The Romans had already dug for ores using open cast mining, which continued throughout the Middle Ages. The many indentations on Blöskopf Hill bear witness to this period of history. As time went by, the method changed from open cast mining to underground mining with tunnels and shafts. Mining of this kind is first mentioned in a document dated 1158, and it continued on into the 18th century, although with long interruptions.

The advent of the Industrial Revolution led to the expansion of the mine, which from 1871 operated under the name of Emser Blei- und Silberwerk AG (Bad Ems Lead and Silver Works, Inc.). In 1909 the company was taken over by what later became the Stolberger Zink AG (Stolberg Zinc Inc.) and mining continued until the end of the Second World War brought things to a halt in 1945. After the war, the mine no longer received any subsidies, but until 1959, stockpiled ore and ore from other mines were sorted at the central preparation plant in Silberau.

Today, the mine is still known as "Mercur", the collective name for various individual pits. Since 1996, the mine has been set up as a museum.

Industry in Bad Ems is mainly limited to companies related to its spa status, but nonetheless fairly varied, including medicine, electrical engineering and tourism.

Bad Ems is located on a cluster of mineral hot springs. These springs are high in sodium bicarbonate and have temperatures between {{convert|27|and|57|C|F}}.{{cite report |title = Nomination of the Great Spas of Europe for inclusion on the World Heritage List | publisher = United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization |url = http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1613/documents/ |access-date = 21 August 2021}} They originate from groundwater infiltration from the Rhenish Lower Devonian formation. Natural Ems salt is produced from this mineral water, and it is also marketed separately for drinking and inhalation purposes; when inhaled using a vaporizer, the water has a beneficial effect on sore throats.{{Cite web|url=https://emser-kraenchen-tafelwasser.de/informationen.html|title=Emser Kränchen Tafelwasser - Informationen|website=emser-kraenchen-tafelwasser.de|access-date=2019-06-05|archive-date=2019-06-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190605140545/https://emser-kraenchen-tafelwasser.de/informationen.html|url-status=dead}}

Bad Ems is served by Bad Ems station, which is on the Lahntal railway. Slow trains also serve Bad Ems West halt.

The town is linked to a view point at the Bismarckturm (Bismarck tower) by the Kurwaldbahn funicular railway.

Another (discontinued) form of transport is the Malbergbahn (opposite to the Kurwaldbahn).

"IMG 1565"-Bad Ems-Cure house (Casino, theater, cultural center with a marble hall).jpg|Bad Ems-Cure house (Casino, theater, cultural center with a marble hall)

Bad Ems Concordia.jpg|Bad Ems from the Concordia heights

Bad ems.jpg|Bad Ems from the River Lahn

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 151-11-29, Volksgerichtshof, Adolf Reichwein.jpg in 1944 (Volksgerichtshof)]]

• Max Jacob (1888-1967), puppeteer and founder of the Hohnsteiner Puppenbühne
• Adolf Reichwein (1898–1944), educator, economist and cultural politicians, resistance fighter during the Third Reich

File:JOffenbach.JPG]]

• Karl Schädler (1804–1872), President of the Landtag of Liechtenstein, born in Bad Ems
• Joseph Derenbourg (1811–1895), orientalist, died in Bad Ems
• Jacques Offenbach (1819–1880), composer, stayed in Bad Ems during the 1860s and premiered several of his operettas in the Kurtheater
• John Naish (1841–1890), Lord Chancellor of Ireland, died in Bad Ems while taking a cure
• Sir William Edward Parry (1790–1855), British Royal Navy officer and explorer, died in Bad Ems while taking a cure
• Botho Strauss (born 1944), writer and playwright, born in Naumburg, schooling in Bad Ems
• Thomas C. Breuer (born 1952), writer and comedian, born in Eisenach, schooling in Bad Ems
• Josef Winkler (born 1974) in Koblenz, former member of parliament (Alliance 90/The Greens), lives in Bad Ems

The Bürgermeister (mayor) of Bad Ems is Oliver Krügel (CDU).

{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in Germany}}

Bad Ems is twinned with:

• {{flagicon|UK}} Droitwich Spa (United Kingdom)
• {{flagicon|POL}} Lubin (Poland)
• {{flagicon|FRA}} Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire (France)
• {{flagicon|GER}} Blankenfelde-Mahlow (Germany)

{{Reflist}}

• Stella Ghervas, « Spas' political virtues : Capodistria at Ems (1826) », Analecta Histórico Médica, IV, 2006 (with A. Franceschetti).

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• {{cite EB9 |wstitle = Ems |volume= VIII | page=182 |short=1 }}

{{Cities and towns in Rhein-Lahn-Kreis (district)}}

{{The Great Spa Towns of Europe}}

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Category:Towns in Rhineland-Palatinate

Category:Spa towns in Germany

Category:Mining communities in Germany

Category:Rhein-Lahn-Kreis