map

[Note: Only the German names of the sights depicted on the glasses from Karlovy Vary are given here. If you know the Czech names please let me know so that I can include them in the text.]

The famous spa town Karlovy Vary (German: Karlsbad) is situated at an altitude of 370 mat the site where the Teplá (Tepl) flows into the river Ohře (Eger). The city centre with the town's administration, the residential and industrial areas are located in the broad Eger valley while the spa facilities aer loacted in the narrow valley of the Teplá. Karlovy Vary is the administrative seat of the Karlovy Vary district and has a population of about 52,400 (2003).

The place was chartered on the 14th August 1370 by Emperor Karl IV and was named after him. The popular story that the Emperor had discovered the warm springs while hunting in this area is a legend. In fact, the earliest mention of the springs is found in a document issued in 1325 by King Johann I (John of Luxembourg). The waters were used for drinking cures since 1520, the first printed instructions were published two years later. In 1707 the town obtained the status of a free royal town by a patent issued by Emperor Joseph I. The first bath house was built in 1717 followed by many others in the following decades.

The Carlsbad Conference of August 1819, called in by the Austrian prime minister Prince Clemens Metternich, ended with the Carlsbad Resolutions. The resolutions aimed at defending the authority of the post-Napoleonic reactionary governments of the countries of the German Federation against the new, liberal and national ideas of the period. The Diet of the German Federation only reluctantly ratified the resolutions in September of the same year. In man countries, such as in Austria, the Carlsbad Resolutions were used to prohibit the political students' corporations, surveillance of the universities and censuring of the press. The Carlsbad Resolutions were finally abolished in the Revolution of 1848.

In 1939, after the occupation of the 'Sudetenland' by the Third Reich, the neighmoring communities of Aich (Doubí), Drahowitz (Drahovice), Espenthor (Olšová Vrata), Fischern (Rybáře), Maierhöfen (Dvory) and Weheditz (Bohatice) were incorporated into Karlsbad, which thus became the largest city of the region (at that time about 53,000). The strong German-speaking community, however, during that time also came in fierce opposition to the Czechs. After World war II the German-speaking population was expelled. The spa was nationalized in 1948. A total of fourteen hot springs is used by the spa. Another important tourist attraction is the international film festival which takes place here since 1948.

The Sprudel-Kolonnade [left: no.695, right: no.802, below right: no.870] houses the best-known of the springs of Karlovy Vary. The "Sprudel" [below left: no.1632], located on the right bank of the Teplá river, is the strongest of all the local springs. It supplies 2,000 litres per minute. The primary temperature is 73°C, but parts of the waters are also cooled down to 57°C and 41°C for dringking purposes. The fountain (12–14 m high) in the colonnade is one of the popular tourist attractions. The spring had already been known long before Karlovy Vary was founded. The earliest attempts to protect the waters from floodings by the Teplá river date already from around 1500. The cast-iron colonnade was built in 1879 on a design by the famous architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer. This wonderful construction existed until 1939. Provisional wooden colonnade buildings replaced it in 1940 and 1945/1947. A modern construction was finally built in this place in 1969–1975.

(See also list of further buildings by Fellner and Helmer. that are depicted on glasses of this collection.)

The Kaiserbad (today Bath I) [left: no.2382] was built by the architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer in 1893–1895 in French Renaissance revival and Art déco style. A luxury appartments on the upper floor once was reserved exclusively for Emperor Franz Joseph I.

(See also list of further buildings by Fellner and Helmer.

The Mühlbrunnen-Kolonnade [left: no.629, and right: no.1275] houses the spring which was named after a mill that was located next to it until the 18th century. The spring supplies waters of 52.7°C and was already known in the 16th century. In the early 18th century this was the site of Karlovy Vary's first bath house. Since 1773 the spring is in possession of the municipality. The colonnade was built in 1871–1881.

The Schlossbrunn-Kolonnade is depicted on glass no.513 [left: right picture]. The colonnade was built in 1911–1913 and houses the spring "Unterer Schlossbrunnen". The oldest reports of this spring (61.4°C) date from 1769, but it was certainly used already earlier. When the "Sprudel" spring erupted in 1809, this spring ran dry and only began to flow again fourteen years later.

The Hirschensprung [right, no.344; also depicted on glass no.513, left] is a popular place for excursions from Karlovy Vary. Located high on a hill above the town, it is the place that was told to be site where a dear that was chased by Emperor Karl IV jumped down and thus caused the legendary discovery of the hot springs. A monument in form of a chamois buck on the tip of the rock commemorates this story.