West part of the Czech Republic
near the border with Germany
Distances from:
Prague: 160 km
Frankfurt: 370 km
Muenchen: 260 km
Wien: 440 km
Leipzig: 210 km
``There is no more beautiful spa in all the world,'' Thomas Alva
Edison declared when he saw Marienbad a hundred years ago.
Its uniqueness and fame have been influenced by many factors.
Marienbad is a southern gate to the Slavkov Forest preserve
the favorable geological conditions of which have given the rise
to curative mineral waters. In the area of the town, which is not
very large, about 40 mineral springs shoot forth; in the
neighborhood there are over a hundred ... The springs have long been known=
but it was only two hundred years ago that a Tepl=A0
native Dr.Nehr became concerned with their use. He found support
from K.K.Reitenberger, abbot of the Tepl=A0 Premonstratesian
monastery. The future spa area belonged under the administration
of this monastery. Nehr's efforts brought success in 1818 when
Marienbad was acknowledged as a public spa. Afterwards this
a dynamic development began and the town was transformed, in a
short time, from a moorland into one of the world's most beautiful
and most visited spastown.
Quick development brought tur-of-the-century Marienbad, to
the attention of the whole world. The town became a place where
prominent persons of politics, culture and commerce came for
treatment, order to undergo a treatment, to spend holidays, or of
simple prestige reasons. Although passing years have decreased
the splendour of these nostalgic times something has been
preserved. The most important things: the extraordinary richess
of natural curative springs, a beautiful environment, pur,
healthy air, charming architecture, and large areas of parks.
Those wo are coming for the first time are captivated, others
return every year.
And so Mr. T.A. Edison's words remain as they were a hundred
years ago.
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