Station: [101] Bad Karlshafen / German Huguenot Museum

The historic centre of Bad Karlshafen is a unique example of baroque architecture. The houses are strung together like white beads around the harbour basin. This uniform townscape reveals a great deal about how the town came into being. 
Bad Karlshafen didn't grow up naturally. The town was founded for a specific purpose more than three centuries ago: 
In 1699, the then Landgrave, Karl von Hessen-Kassel, planned and established the town of Sieburg here, later renamed Carlshafen in his honour. A Huguenot town that was to become a new home for Reformed Christian refugees from France. 
The town was founded with the aim of boosting the country's economy by setting up factories and opening trade routes with the help of the newly settled Huguenots. 
It was an ambitious plan. Karlshafen was to become an inland trade hub, with its own harbour and a newly built shipping canal to link it to the city of Kassel. However, the project was never fully implemented, and the proposed canal was never built.
Today, Bad Karlshafen is the northernmost point of the Huguenot and Waldensian Trail, which is recognised as a long-distance cultural route by the Council of Europe. The trail runs through France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany, tracing one of the routes taken by the Huguenot and Waldensian refugees.
Bad Karlshafen is also home to the German Huguenot Museum. If you're interested, you'll find it in the direct vicinity at number 9 Hafenplatz. The spacious rooms of this former cigar factory house a wide-ranging exhibition that tells the story of France's persecuted Reformed Christians.
We'd be delighted to welcome you to the museum. The current opening hours are displayed in the museum's showcase.

Foto: © DHG