Bad Karlshafen

Landgrave Karl of Hesse-Kassel founded the town in 1699 for Huguenots who had fled France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and had it laid out on a strict baroque plan with white plastered buildings of uniform height around a rectangular harbour basin. The harbour was to be the end of a canal linking the Weser to the Diemel and bypassing tolls; the canal was never completed after Karl's death, so the basin remained a harbour without its purpose. The town is unusually uniform and white for the region. Huguenot history is covered in a museum and archive.

History

The town was founded in 1699 for French Huguenots fleeing persecution, first named Sieburg and later after Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, who gave them refuge. Charles and his engineer and architect Friedrich Conradi planned a Landgrave-Carl Canal and a harbour at Karlshafen to bypass customs duties on the Weser, and between 1685 and 1750 hundreds of Waldensians expelled from Piedmont also lived here; the German Huguenot Museum keeps an archive, library and family histories, and the town has held spa status, and the title Bad, since 1977 (Wikipedia, Bad Karlshafen).

What to look for

• The white baroque plan - uniform plastered buildings to one design.
• The harbour basin - a rectangular dock built for a canal never finished.
• The Huguenot museum - the refugee history that founded the town.
• The Weser setting - the river running below the planned centre.

When to go

April to October; boat trips run on the Weser in season and the cycle path passes through. The town is small and quiet. Winter is very quiet.

What to expect

The town is tiny and seen in an hour or two. The spa function has declined. Services are limited outside the season.

Nearby

Hann. Münden lies upriver; the Reinhardswald is south.

Key facts