Luhačovice Spa is a spa complex in the town of Luhačovice, built on the basis of local natural mineral springs.
Luhačovice Spa forms a spa complex in the town of Luhačovice, which arose thanks to natural mineral springs rising in the surroundings of the river Horní Olšava. According to the town of Luhačovice, these springs are the result of the mixing of remnants of the Tertiary sea at a depth of more than 400 metres with surface waters, with carbon dioxide from earlier volcanic activity forcing them to the surface [2].
Earliest history and first mentions
Archaeological finds in Obora near Luhačovice document Slavic settlement of the region as early as the 7th and 8th centuries [1]. According to the town of Luhačovice, the springs, then called Slanica for their salty taste and peculiar colour, were sought out as early as by prehistoric hunters, although the village itself lay off the trade routes of the time [2]. The first written mention of Luhačovice dates from 1412, while the oldest documented mention relating to this area, concerning Prakšice and Biskupice, is from 1140 [1].
The Serényi family and the beginnings of the spa
In 1590 Luhačovice belonged to the Bartodějský of Bartoděj family. After the Battle of White Mountain the estate was confiscated and acquired by Maximilian of Liechtenstein, who sold it in 1629 to Gabriel Serényi. The estate remained with the Serényi family until 1945 [1]. According to the town of Luhačovice, the Serényis realized that the mineral waters could be used for business, and thus the history of the local spa began to be written [2].
Count Ondřej Serényi had the spring called Bublavý improved because of the loud bubbling of the water forcing its way out at the northern foot of Malá Kamenná. At the end of the 18th century the spring was renamed Amandka after Amand Serényi [1]. At the instigation of Count Ondřej Serényi, the healing effects of the waters were studied by the Brno physicist and physician Jan Hertod of Todtenfeld, who published his results in the Latin-language book Tartaro Mastix Moraviae [2]. About 50 metres from Amandka another spring was later improved, originally called Hlavní, renamed around 1860 after Count Vincent Serényi as Vincentka [1][2].
Expert opinions and growing interest
In 1772 the Viennese professor Anton Haslinger visited Luhačovice; unlike in Záhorovice, where he had stayed for treatment, he found here several springs with an excellent taste. He sent water samples for analysis to Professor of Chemistry Bedřich Crantz in Vienna, who found that the water was three times stronger than the then widespread Austrian Selters water [2]. Interest in the spa was also fostered by the work of the Uherské Hradiště physician Alois Ferdinand Kiesewetter and the Viennese physician F. Spenkuch, who demonstrated the presence of rare elements in Luhačovice water [2].
Building development
In 1789 the then owner of the estate had an inn with guest rooms built by the springs, because there had so far been no accommodation or catering facilities for stays of several days of treatment [1]. At the end of the 18th century building activity intensified and the buildings Zámeček, Vincencův dům, Stolařský dům and Venkovský dům were created. In 1795 the chapel of St Elizabeth was built, with the coat of arms of the Serényi family on its façade, whose bell announced the beginning and end of the treatment day. According to the town of Luhačovice, this chapel is the oldest surviving building of the spa centre [1]. In the middle of the 19th century the spa had ten named houses with 83 rooms, two kitchen buildings and two squares, Hlavní and Josefské [1].
Expansion of the spring base
In the first half of the 19th century Count Jan Serényi had a third spring improved, rising about 200 metres from Amandka, called the New Spring and later renamed Janovka. At that time a fourth spring, Aloiska, was also known. In 1856 and 1857 the wells of the springs Antonínka and U čítárny were dug, followed by the springs Jubilejní and Ústřední. The freely flowing spring Ottovka was captured in a stone vault in 1905, and five years later the spring Elektra 1 was captured [2]. At the end of 1929 a borehole was drilled that tapped the spring Gejzír, today called the Dr. Šťastný spring, and in 1930 another borehole was drilled to the spring Elektra [2].