Karlovy Vary

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Coordinates: 50°14′N 12°52′E / 50.233°N 12.867°E / 50.233; 12.867
Karlovy Vary
Karlsbad
Town
A Bird's-eye view of Karlovy Vary
Flag
Coat of arms
Country Czech Republic
Region Karlovy Vary
District Karlovy Vary
Rivers Ohře, Teplá, Rolava
Elevation 447 m (1,467 ft)
Coordinates 50°14′N 12°52′E / 50.233°N 12.867°E / 50.233; 12.867
Area 59.10 km2 (23 sq mi)
Population 50,172 (As of 2013)
Density 849 / km2 (2,199 / sq mi)
Founded around 1350
Mayor Ing. Petr Kulhánek
Timezone CET (UTC+1)
 - summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 360 01
Location in the Czech Republic
Location in Karlovy Vary District
Wikimedia Commons: Karlovy Vary
Statistics: statnisprava.cz
Website: www.karlovyvary.cz
A geyser in Karlovy Vary

Karlovy Vary (Czech pronunciation: [ˈkarlovɪ ˈvarɪ] ( listen); German: Karlsbad; Russian: Карловы Вары; English: Carlsbad) is a spa city situated in western Bohemia, Czech Republic, on the confluence of the rivers Ohře and Teplá, approximately 130 km (81 mi) west of Prague (Praha). It is named after King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, who founded the city in 1370. It is historically famous for its hot springs (13 main springs, about 300 smaller springs, and the warm-water Teplá River). It is the most visited spa town in Czech Republic.[1]

In the 19th century, it became a popular tourist destination, especially known for international celebrities visiting for spa treatment. The city is also known for the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and the popular Czech liqueur Karlovarská Becherovka. The glass manufacturer Moser Glass is located in Karlovy Vary. The city has also given its name to the famous delicacy known as "Carlsbad plums". These plums (usually Quetsch) are candied in hot syrup, then halved and stuffed into dried damsons; this gives them a very intense flavour.

The city has been used as the location for a number of film-shoots, including the 2006 films Last Holiday and box-office hit Casino Royale, both of which used the city's Grandhotel Pupp in different guises.

Carlsbad, New Mexico,[2] after which Carlsbad Caverns National Park is named, Carlsbad, California,[3] Carlsbad Springs, Ontario, and Carlsbad, Texas take their names from Karlovy Vary's English name, Carlsbad.

History

The first Celtic settlers came there before the Middle Ages.

On 14 August 1370, Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, gave city privileges to the place that subsequently was named after him, according to legend after he had acclaimed the healing power of the hot springs. However, earlier settlements could be found in the outskirts of today's city.

Due to publications by doctors such as David Becher and Josef von Löschner, the city developed into a famous spa resort, and was visited by many members of European aristocracy. It became popular after the railway lines to Eger (Cheb) and Prague were completed in 1870.

The number of visitors rose from 134 families in the 1756 season to 26,000 guests annually at the end of the 19th century. By 1911, that figure had reached 71,000, but World War I put an end to tourism and also led to the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire by late 1918.

Despite the right to self-determination declared in Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points, the large German-speaking population of Bohemia was incorporated into the new state of Czechoslovakia against their will in accordance with the Treaty of Saint Germain. As a result, the German-speaking majority of Carlsbad protested. A demonstration on 4 March 1919 passed peacefully, but later that month, six demonstrators were killed by Czech troops after a demonstrations turned unruly.[4]

In 1938, the Sudetenland, including Carlsbad, became part of Nazi Germany according to the terms of the Munich Agreement. After World War II, in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement, the vast majority of the people of Carlsbad were forcibly expelled from the city because of their German ethnicity. In accordance with the Beneš decrees, their property was confiscated without compensation.

Before that, the Carlsbad Decrees of 1819 had associated the city with antiliberal censorship within the German Confederation.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of Communist rule in the Czech Republic, there has been a steady increase of the Russian business presence in Karlovy Vary.

A significant portion of the spa/historic section of Karlovy Vary is shown. Major sites in photo, from left to right, are: The dark grey, socialist-era Thermal Spring Colonnade (also called Hot Spring Colonnade or Sprudel) features a glass chimney. Directly above it sits the twin-steeple Church of St. Mary Magdalene. The large, stately building on the center hill is the Hotel Imperial. Below it, to the right of the square, is the Opera House. The Grandhotel Pupp is the large white building to the far right.

Population

  • 1930 – 54,652
  • 1939 – 53,339
  • 1947 – 31,322
  • 1991 – 56,291 (3 March)
  • 2001 – 53,857 (1 March)
  • 2003 – 52,359 (1 January)
  • 2008 – 53,708

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in the Czech Republic

Twin towns – Sister cities

Karlovy Vary is twinned with:

People

Native

Notable people associated with Karlovy Vary

  • Peter I of Russia visited Karlovy Vary in 1711
  • Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Republic of Turkey, as well as its first President, visited Karlsbad in 1918 for spa treatments
  • František Běhounek, scientist and novelist, died here
  • Johann Wolfgang Goethe,[6] German poet, novelist, philosopher, scientist
  • Princess Michael of Kent (born Baroness Marie Christine Agnes Hedwig Ida von Reibnitz), a member of the British Royal Family, was born in January 1945, prior to the expulsion of the German population later that year.
  • Adalbert Stifter, Austrian writer
  • Ludwig van Beethoven, composer, came for spa treatments. He and the poet Goethe would take walks together, much to the delight of the local people.
  • Fryderyk Chopin, composer, and his parents met for the last time during a holiday in Karlsbad, August/September 1835.
  • Anthony J. Drexel, senior partner of Drexel, Morgan & Co. (JPMorgan, today) and founder of Drexel University, died in Karlsbad in 1893 while spending the summer there for his health.
  • Vladimir Voronin, former president or Republic of Moldova, visits Karlovy Vary every year for spa treatments.
  • James Ogilvy, 7th Earl of Findlater, Scottish noble and an accomplished amateur landscape architect and philanthropist
  • Ivan Turgenev, the Russian novelist, visited Karlsbad on numerous occasions for its healing waters.

Gallery

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Karlovy Vary.
  • EVLAHOS KARLOVY VARY.jpg
  • Evlahos carlovy vary.jpg
  • Karlovy Vary Czech Rep.jpg

  • Aerial View of Karlovy Vary

  • Street view of Karlovy Vary

  • Karlovy Vary Airport

  • Street in Karlovy Vary

  • City theatre of Karlovy Vary

  • Church of St. Mary Magdalene.

  • Karlovy Vary orhodox church

  • A bottle of Becherovka

  • Mediumwave transmitter

  • Large mast of mediumwave transmitter

  • Small mast of mediumwave transmitter

  • Karlovy Vary Gallery

References

  1. ↑ Vývoj návštěvnosti lázní v letech 2000 - 2011
  2. ↑ About Carlsbad, NM retrieved 2012-03-23
  3. ↑ City of Carlsbad - History of Carlsbad, retrieved 2012-03-23.
  4. ↑ "Zdeněk Vališ: 4. březen 1919 v Kadani". Virtually.cz. Retrieved 2013-03-26. 
  5. ↑ hu:Pulváry Károly
  6. ↑ Johannes Baier: Goethe und die Thermalquellen von Karlovy Vary (Karlsbad, Tschechische Republik). In: Jahresberichte und Mitteilungen des Oberrheinischen Geologischen Vereins. N. F. Bd. 94, 2012, ISSN 0078-2947, S. 87–103.

Further reading

Published in the 19th century
  • "Carlsbad", [http://openlibrary.org/books/OL20619468M/Southern_Germany_and_Austria_Including_the_Eastern_Alps_Handbook_for_... Southern Germany and Austria] (2nd ed.), Coblenz: Karl Baedeker, 1871, OCLC 4090237 
Published in the 20th century
  • "Carlsbad", The Encyclopaedia Britannica (11th ed.), New York: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1910, OCLC 14782424 

External links

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Karlovy Vary.
Administrative seats of Czech regions Czech Republic
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