Františkovy Lázně is a spa town in the Czech Republic whose historic centre has been part of the UNESCO serial property The Great Spa Towns of Europe since July 2021.
Františkovy Lázně is a spa town in the Czech Republic. Its heritage conservation area, together with those in Karlovy Vary and Mariánské Lázně, forms part of a transnational serial property inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List under the name The Great Spa Towns of Europe [1].
History
The appearance of the modern town was significantly shaped by Gustav Wiedermann (born 24 August 1850 in Františkovy Lázně, died 11 February 1914 in the same place), son of the builder Karl Wiedermann, whose firm carried out most of the local new buildings from the 1840s [2]. Gustav Wiedermann studied architecture in Prague, Graz and Munich, and from the 1870s worked in his father's design office [2]. Among other works, he designed the Conversation Hall of the Společenský dům (1877), the building of the Imperial hotel (1878) and the spa facility opened in 1880 under the name Císařské lázně [2]. He also took part in the construction of the Orthodox churches in Františkovy Lázně (1889), Karlovy Vary (1898) and Mariánské Lázně (1901) [2].
From 1881 Wiedermann was involved in the activities of the local beautification society, which he chaired in 1889–1914; in 1882 he was elected to the town council and on 7 November 1900 he became mayor [2]. In 1902 and 1904 he negotiated the purchase of all four spa establishments from private owners and from the town of Cheb, so that Františkovy Lázně became the independent manager of the entire spa economy [2]. A reorganisation of operations, new capturing of the springs and promotion of the spa followed, among other things through the Prague university professor Rudolf Jaksch von Wartenhorst, who lectured here at a medical conference in 1906 on the local healing effects [2]. According to the source, the number of visitors to the town doubled within five years as a result of these measures [2]. Wiedermann also spoke out against coal mining in the Cheb region and against competing extraction of peat in Soos by the Saxon spa of Bad Elster [2]. He resigned as mayor in 1910 after a disagreement with the local physicians [2].
Symbol of the town – the statue of František
One of the surviving symbols of Františkovy Lázně is the statue of a small boy, locally called Frantík [3]. According to a traditional legend, it helps in treating infertility; it is said that a woman who touches its left big toe will become pregnant within a year, although the source states that these healing effects are medically attributed rather to the local peat [3]. From the beginning the statue stood by the flower beds near František's spring, which in the dialect was called Buberlquelle, and the statue itself was locally known as Brunnenbuberl until 1945 [3]. The statue's popularity among visitors grew in the 1950s, when a photographer of the local enterprise used it as a prop when photographing women [3]. The present statue, the third in succession, was created in 1967 by the sculptors Oskar Kozák and Jiří Lendr [3]. The original statue by Adolf Mayerl is now kept in the Městské muzeum Františkovy Lázně [3].
Position within UNESCO
The heritage conservation areas in Karlovy Vary, Mariánské Lázně and Františkovy Lázně were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in July 2021, together with eight other European spa towns, as a single property named The Great Spa Towns of Europe [1]. Besides the three Czech towns, this serial property includes the German towns of Baden-Baden, Bad Ems and Bad Kissingen, Spa in Belgium, Vichy in France, Montecatini Terme in Italy, Baden bei Wien in Austria and the English city of Bath [1]. According to the National Heritage Institute, these spa towns arose around natural mineral springs and document the phenomenon of European spa culture, which flourished from the early 18th century to the first third of the 20th century [1]. According to the same source, a characteristic feature is the combination of treatments indoors and outdoors with an offer of leisure activities, which was reflected in the form of the spa buildings – bathhouses, spring pavilions, pump rooms and colonnades – as well as in the associated social houses, casinos and theatres, set in a landscaped environment with parks, gardens, promenades and sports grounds [1]. The National Heritage Institute adds that spa towns were the only places in Europe that rivalled the great metropolises culturally and became a source of intellectual, artistic, social and political inspiration, thereby contributing to the democratisation of European society [1].
Pages linking here
- Karlovy Vary
- Karlovy Vary Region
- Mariánské Lázně
- Michal David
- Michal David's concerts in Sandra Tsoukernik's campaign
- Sandra Tsoukernik