Marble Hall

The marble hall, built in 1836-39, is also known as "Little Rome". The Renaissance Villa Farnesina on the Tiber in Rome is the model of the magnificent hall with its wall paintings and columns made of Lahn valley marble. The plans for the ballroom in Bad Ems were provided by the Royal Bavarian building inspector Johann Gottfried Gutensohn. The composer Jacques Offenbach worked as a concert master in Bad Ems for 12 years. Many of his works were premiered here in the marble hall. During this time parts of his most famous operetta "Orpheus from the Underworld" were created. The composer wrote about Bad Ems: "I confess that I have a very special preference for Ems", not only that it is the source of my health, it also stimulates my creative imagination in some ways. "