Czech Republic, Marianske Lazne

Mariánské Lázně is a spa town in the Carlsbad Region of the Czech Republic. The town, surrounded by green mountains, is an exquisite mosaic of parks and noble houses. Most of its buildings come from the town's Golden Era in the second half of the 19th century, when many celebrities and top European rulers came to enjoy the curative carbon dioxide springs.

History

Although the town itself is only about two hundred years old, the locality has been inhabited much longer. The first written record dates back to 1273, when there was a village of Úšovice. For most of its history it belonged to the nearby Teplá Monastery. The springs had been known since the beginning of the valley's settlement, yet they were first examined (for salt content) in 1528 on the order of the German Emperor and Czech King Ferdinand I.

The town soon became one of the top European spas and it was very popular with celebrities and rulers who often returned there, among them were such names as Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Frédéric Chopin, Thomas Edison, Richard Wagner or Prince Friedrich of Saxony, English king Edward VII, the Russian Czar Nicholas II, and Emperor Franz Joseph II and many others. At those times, about 20,000 visitors came every year.

Population

Until their expulsion in 1945 the majority of the population of the city spoke German (see Sudetenland). Nowadays, however, most of the inhabitants are Czechs.