Ein Sommer im Welterbe

Balmoral Castle – Interior Views of a Hotel in the World Heritage "Great Spa Towns of Europe"

Tour with Hans-Jürgen Sarholz, Association for History, Monument and Landscape Conservation e.V. Bad Ems

Saturday, June 6, 2026, 2.00 p.m. Balmoral Castle, Villenpromenade 11.

Accommodations for guests, large and small hotels, guesthouses, and villas are an important element of the significant spa towns in Europe. Balmoral Castle is a typical example. The current Artists Residency was built as a representative villa for a Russian landowner and served for many decades as a hotel. Its architecture is authentically preserved. Here, one can trace the history of the house and the people. We will hear from hoteliers and spa guests, from Richard Wagner and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and from guests from Prussia, Portugal, and Russia. We will also see where the maids worked, in the kitchen and the hotel rooms, and we will learn how they lived. Old documents give them a name, old photos a face. Thus, several features of the World Heritage "Great Spa Towns of Europe" will be discussed, including architecture and internationality, but also the spa infrastructure.